Something to Die For
by Macavity the Mystery Cat
Summary: Morino Ibiki was thought to be the last choice for a jonin sensei, but thanks to the efforts of Umino Iruka, he finds himself saddled with a familiar team of new genin...
1. The Path Diverges A New Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I have no intentions of profiting from this story.

Something to Die For – A Naruto Reimagining

Chapter 1 –The Path Diverges/A New Day

Umino Iruka wasn't bothered by the fact that the other teachers had long ago finished up with their assignments, but it seemed that the Third Hokage's patience would last at least a little bit longer. The conference room had been relatively clean when the meeting had begun, but now the floor and the table around him were covered in dropped lists, records, and pictures.

"Yuuhi Kurenai, genjutsu specialist. Recently promoted during last year's exam. She's up for a team, isn't she, Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked, pushing papers aside, trying to find the correct list.

The Hokage watched Iruka's search with amusement. "Yes, Iruka, she put in the request a few months ago. She seems to think she has something to prove."

Iruka nodded distractedly as he continued to rummage through the papers. "I'd like to pair her up with Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. I think she'd be a good influence, especially with Hinata. The only thing she needs to be a good shinobi is confidence, and a strong woman in her life might be just what she needs. She also has done extensive work in reconnaissance, which will benefit all of their abilities. " Abruptly finding the paper he was look for, he made a quick note on it, before looking towards the Hokage.

The Hokage glanced over his own notes before nodding. "I believe that can be done, Iruka. Is that all the teams? I believe you were assigned to help pick the jonins for Teams 7-10, am I correct?"

Iruka seemed to deflate a little. "Actually, Hokage-sama, we haven't picked a sensei for Team 7."

The Hokage frowned and looked down at his notes. "So it seems. Well, which students are on the team?"

Iruka seemed to deflate a little more, and it took him several seconds to answer. When he did, it was in a quiet voice. "Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."

The Hokage instantly understood. "Ah, I see. This was to be young Naruto's team, was it?" Iruka gave a mute nod. "And since he did not pass yet again, we are left with only two members. Quite a quandary indeed."

Iruka seemed to stare out into space for a moment before speaking in an even quieter voice than before. "I was so sure he would pass this year. His taijutsu is still a horrible mess, but I was amazed at how much he improved this year. He seems to finally understand that to reach his goals, he would have to work for them." He gave a small shrug. "But I guess he still wasn't ready. Maybe next year…" He drifted off into a morose silence.

The Hokage kindly gave him several seconds to brood before he cleared his throat. "Iruka, I do understand how you feel about the boy, growing up, like you, with his parent's love, but sometimes," The Hokage sighed, "we must move beyond that. He has failed the exam three times, and he does not have many more chances. Right now, concentrate on the students that you can do something for."

Iruka started, before blushing in embarrassment and scrabbling through his papers again. The Hokage smiled and gave him a few moments before asking, "Your recommendation for the jonin-sensei?"

"Actually, I'd like your advice on this one, Hokage-sama, but with…the failure of the third student, I'm not too sure that my recommendation is the right one." He looked pensively at the Hokage, who raised a thick eyebrow at him, before waving at him to continue. "I'd like Morino Ibiki to take Team 7."

The Hokage blinked in surprised, before rapidly looking through his notes. He had almost reached the last page before he found what he was looking for. "He does have a standing request for a team, but it was made almost 6 years ago. I'm sure even he has forgotten about it by now." He flipped to the front of his notes. "Why not Hatake Kakashi? He recently put in for another team, and he is a master of the Sharingan. He'd be a perfect match for Uchiha Sasuke, should he ever unlock his family's bloodline."

Iruka shifted uncomfortably. "I saw that as well, Hokage-sama, but I'm not sure such a sensei would do well for Haruno Sakura. She's an outstanding student, a genius most likely, and I think she'd do much better with…well, a more intellectual sensei."

"And you had hoped he'd give Naruto the same boost he'd given you back when you were a genin?" The Hokage added sharply.

Iruka winced, but nodded. "The thought…had crossed my mind. Ibiki was one of the few jonins I was certain would treat Naruto with some respect…"

He quailed under the Hokage sudden glare. "I dislike the fact that you believe any of my jonins would treat their students with anything less than respect," The Hokage's glare abruptly dropped, and he continued wearily, "But I will admit that slip-ups have on occasion occurred. But back to the matter at hand, how do you expect that Morino Ibiki will provide this support? He is the leader of the ANBU Torture and Interrogation Unit, and his skills cannot be spared from there. Do you believe it possible for him to juggle both a genin team and fulfill his responsibilities to his unit?"

Iruka seemed to shrink into himself a bit. "I thought that maybe we could formally attach the team to the unit. Ibiki-semp…-san would be able to take care of both. It used to be done all the time with other units back during the last war, but I'm sure there is some sort of compromise we could come up with…" Iruka trailed off when he saw the Hokage's blank expression.

"You are suggesting we attach a group of genin to the most secret and feared unit in the village? Have you considered the consequences of such an action, Iruka?" The Hokage asked in a very mild voice.

Iruka nodded nervously, but spoke up nonetheless. "I have thought about the consequences, Hokage-sama. Genin are notorious for their inability to keep their mouths shut, but I have full confidence in both Sasuke's and Sakura's abil-"

"Those were not the consequences I was speaking of, Iruka. Have you thought what such an assignment might do to the children?" The Hokage asked gently. "Have you considered that assigning them to Morino may set their path's into a path that will lead them only to darkness? You know full well, that one's jonin sensei's abilities have a great effect on the future of their genin. While no one doubts the necessity of the Interrogation unit, it is not a unit that many actively seek to join. Would you be willing to do such a thing to those children?"

Iruka did not reply and refused to look the Hokage in the eye. He sighed. "I shall consider the choice for Team 7, Iruka. You may go."

For a moment it looked as if Iruka would protest, but he caught himself. He gave an audible sigh, before picking up his scattered papers, and excusing himself from the room.

After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, Saturobi reluctantly and wearily got to his feet, collected his much smaller stack of notes, and started the long climb to his office. Iruka certainly meant well, but he was thinking with his heart and not his brain. It was simply not possible to assign a genin team to Ibiki, who was already hard pressed for time. Plus, there was the upcoming chuunin exam to consider. Ibiki would make a wonderful proctor for the first test…

Passing a group of storerooms on the way to his office, his chain of thought was broken by a faint noise coming from behind one of the doors. That was curious in itself, for at this time of night, the tower should be almost deserted and as that particular storeroom was only supposed to be opened by his decree. For someone to be in there, that meant an intruder of the highest degree. Few knew about that storeroom outside his own council. Saturobi's eyes narrowed, and quicker than the eye could see, he removed his ornamental hat, and had drawn several kunai from beneath his bulky robes. It would take too long for even the ANBU to get here. He smiled. It had been a long time since he'd had to deal with an intruder himself.

He waited for a few moments for the sound to move further into the room, before quietly opening the door, and slipping through. He brought his blades up to throw, took careful aim…and then stopped, surprised by what he saw. He quickly put away his blades and tried to look as stern and grumpy as possible. "Naruto! What are you doing in my house at this hour?"

For a moment, the boy seemed surprised, then flashed him one of his characteristic grins, and he began working quick hand signs. "Behold! The Ninja Centerfold!"

For a moment Naruto was obscured by smoke, and the Hokage almost laughed when he heard the name of the technique. However, when the smoke cleared…the world seemed to go away.

When he came to a short while later, he rubbed his head gingerly. Who knew that Naruto knew the Hokage's weakness? He laughed to himself quietly, but that laughter was quickly choked off when he looked around. This storeroom contained many forbidden, but precious things. The problem was that the most important of them was missing, and the Hokage knew without a doubt who had taken it.

* * *

After the jonin and chuunin of the village had been informed of the theft, Saturobi had dashed up the stairs as quickly as his old bones would let him. When he reached his quarters, he carefully locked the entrance, and after a moment's consideration, shuttered all the windows. Being too warm was a small price to pay for privacy.

Moving to the front of one of the many bookshelves that decorated his home, he pulled several books in quick succession, and then stood back as the shelf soundlessly retracted into the floor. A small room was revealed, containing only a small table and a comfortable chair.

What was on the table however was what held Saturobi's attention. It was one of the most precious possessions owned by the Leaf village, a scrying stone. Four generations of ninja had studied it, but none knew quite how it worked. In fact, the farthest any of them had ever gotten was that if the user fed chakra into it, and concentrated really hard on something, the stone would show what the user was thinking about. It did not have a large range, which made it unsuitable for spying, but Saturobi found it useful to keep track of those under his care. And of course, find young scroll thieves.

He quickly became engrossed in the scene that played out before his eyes. He had been lucky. He had activated the stone just in time to see poor Iruka catch up with Naruto. He listened patiently to Naruto's explanation and rejoiced in the fact that Naruto was innocent. However, he was greatly angered and worried by Mizuki's betrayal, but as the events quickly escalated, however, Saturobi's worry began to subside. He had full confidence that his ninja would pull through and deal with the problem. Both Iruka and Naruto were excellent ninja, after all.

When the battle finally resolved, the Hokage smiled. They had a ninth graduate and a third full team. Saturobi turned the possibilities over in his head. With a person like Naruto, whose own inner light always seemed to shine through, perhaps he would have to reconsider Iruka's recommendation. A bright light to illuminate a dark path, indeed.

And with that, Saturobi left his quarters and walked out into the new morning to calm the anxious group of ninja gathered about his tower.

* * *

Well, this is my first story I've posted on if you haven't figured that out already. I've been a member for a while, but until recently I haven't felt the urge to write anything out. So here it is, my story, Something to Die For. Reviews are appreciated, but not required, I'm happy enough to get something up on the site for once. I don't know when the next chapter will be up, or if there really will be a next chapter, so don't hold your breath. 


	2. First Impressions Morino Ibiki

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I have no intentions of profiting from this story.

Chapter 2 - First Impressions/Morino Ibiki

"Why are we the only cell whose teacher hasn't shown up?" Muttered Uzumaki Naruto as he glanced down the hallway furtively looking for their missing sensei. "All the other teams have already gone off with their sensei's! Even Iruka-sensei left!" He closed the classroom door with a slam, and crossed his arms impatiently.

Uchiha Sasuke rolled his eyes and blew a strand of his black hair from his face, before he resumed his study of the far wall. He could already feel his dislike for his two teammates growing. Both of them were useless. Uzumaki was the worst in the class, and Haruno, while she was very intelligent, was weak in every other area. Not to mention she took every opportunity to touch him. He shivered slightly. Why couldn't girls just leave him alone?

His attention was drawn from the wall by a shout from Sakura.

"Naruto! What are you doing?" shouted the pink haired kunoichi.

Sasuke rolled his eyes once again, and watched as Naruto grabbed an eraser from the blackboard and attempted to wedge it between the door and the frame. What a primitive trap. Naruto really was an idiot. No jonin level ninja wou-?

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Said a voice.

Sasuke blinked in confusion. Wait a second. Who had said that? He hadn't said anything, and neither had Sakura. He began to turn to look for the source of the voice, but was interrupted by Naruto.

"Shut up, Sasuke! Who asked you, anyway?" said the irate blond.

Sasuke's blood was instantly boiling. How dare the idiot tell him to shut up? He opened his mouth to tell Naruto exactly what he thought of him, when Sakura beat him the punch. Literally.

Sakura looked down upon Naruto, who was now cradling yet another large bump on his head, her eyes blazing with look that spelled doom for the unfortunate blond. "How dare you say such a think to Sasuke? He's ten times the ninja than you could ever be! You should listen to what he says and be thankful he'd offer you his advice! I mean…" Sasuke tuned out both of them and relaxed.

As annoying as she was, it was nice that she came to his defense so quickly. Especially when Naruto was involved. Too bad she was such a horrible ninja. If she was stronger he might just pay her a little attention every now and then. Why were all kunoichis so we-!

All thoughts were driven from his head when he felt the edge of a blade pressed against his neck. He went completely still, and tried to relax. The blade was pressed right up against his jugular. One wrong move would spell almost instant death for him.

Fighting panic, Sasuke tried to see the person who held the blade, but an increase of pressure on his throat warned him that moving even a little would be a bad idea. So instead, he looked towards his teammates, hoping they would notice the situation. Unfortunately, they were still arguing. Well, actually, Sakura was yelling, and Naruto just sat there with a sullen look on his face, staring at the floor and refusing to meet her eyes. He wanted to curse at them for not paying attention and being completely oblivious to his predicament, but he had an idea that speaking would be an even worse idea than moving.

Plus it was hard to be angry with those who were so obviously less skilled than he was. After all, he had not detected the intruder. If he hadn't it, it was probably asking too much from those two to catch it. That didn't mean he would forgive them. He would pay them back for it later. If there was a later for the three of them.

They continued their little spat for several more minutes, before both of them turned to him as he could mediate their argument. Instead they were met with the sight of his sweaty face, and his too still posture, clearly, at least he hoped, his distress.

Sakura, unsurprisingly, was the first to notice that something was wrong. Forgetting Naruto, she turned and took a hesitant step towards him before nervously asking, "Sasuke? Are you feeling alright?"

He rolled his eyes. Did it look like he was all right? Couldn't she see that there was some unknown attacker who was holding a knife to his throat? Was she that dens-! He thoughts abruptly stopped. What if they couldn't see his captor? That had to mean…Genjutsu!

Looking at Sakura, he licked his dry lips carefully, and mouthed out the word genjutsu. She looked puzzled, and Sasuke almost growled in irritation, remembering at the last moment the blade at his throat. Mentally shaking himself, he mouthed the word again, this time shifting his eyes to the left, hopefully indicating the direction he thought the attacker was in. She still looked puzzled, and Sasuke started the charade again.

However, a kunai brushing past to the left of his head stopped him. Sasuke's eyes immediately moved to Naruto whose arm was extended as if he had just thrown something. He seemed as if he was focused on something just behind Sasuke. Had he of all people gotten the message?

Sakura had again begun to turn towards Naruto, likely with the intention of yelling at him for throwing the knife at Sasuke, but she stopped. Sasuke watched her eyes go wide and take a step back. "The kunai…stopped!" He heard her whisper, before she moved towards her own weapons.

"Well, at least someone finally noticed." Said a rough voice disapprovingly from his left.

Sasuke suddenly felt chakra being dispelled from behind him, and he heard both Sakura and Naruto gasp. The blade pressed to his neck was withdrawn, and he wasted no time throwing himself forward over the desk towards his teammates. He landed smoothly and rolled to his feet, drawing a kunai, and turning to face his assailant.

Before the team, stood a well-built man wearing a Leaf hitai-ate. He was garbed in a black trench coat over some sort of uniform that was a slightly lighter color. But what had made Sakura and Naruto gasp and even Sasuke wince was the face. The man's eyes seemed to burn with an intensity that was frightening, and the horrific scars that covered the face merely added to the effect.

However, he seemed merely amused by the drawn weapons, and waved them off with a gloved hand. "Put those toys away. We have work to do, and I have very little free time." With that he strode out of the classroom, and the three could hear his footsteps receding down the hall.

Sasuke, as usual, was the first of the team to put the pieces together, and he turned to face the others with a wide-eyed look. "That was our jonin-sen-!"

"Do you genin already wish to be sent back to the academy this early? Get moving!" Came the man's voice, seeming to magically drift back to them.

The genin exchanged worried looks before they ungracefully scrambled out of the room and dashed full speed down the hall after their assigned jonin-sensei.

* * *

Ibiki lead the aspiring genin to one of his favorite quiet spots. It was a small park next to a little steam that flowed through the town that, according to local legend, was built by the First Hokage for his own personal use. He wasn't certain whether it was true or not, but he often spent evenings he wasn't buried in work on one of the benches, watching those who wandered the park. It was as good a place as good as any to ruin the new genin's hopes of success.

He sat on one of the benches and gestured to the one on the other side of the path. "Sit."

The three genin exchanged uneasy glances and moved towards the bench. It was too small for the three of them. Eventually, the pink-haired one took a seat on the bench, while the other two each stood on opposite sides of the bench. That wouldn't do. This time his voice carried an audible edge. "Are you two deaf? I said sit."

The two exchanged glances, and the blonde one looked as if he was going to complain, but a look in Ibiki's direction changed his mind. Reluctantly the two boys joined the girl on the bench. After a minute of uncomfortable shuffling and a few quiet harsh words between the blond and the black-haired one, all three were paying attention again.

He let them stew uncomfortably for a few more minutes, while he studied them. They were typical fresh genin, it appeared. A bunch of kids with more dreams than experience, all fire and no skill. They'd fail his test easily, and he'd have one less thing to worry about. Still, there were formalities to observe. "Your first name. Your greatest strength. Your greatest weakness."

The genin appeared confused, and Ibiki rolled his eyes. "Well, speak already!"

The genin traded looks, and after a moment the blonde one stood, and practically began to shout, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! One day I'm going to be the gre-" Ibiki cut him off. That was already beginning to give him a headache.

"Give me what I asked for, kid. No more, no less. Being long-winded is a disadvantage for a ninja," The blonde looked sullen. "And being loud is even worse." Now he looked down right rebellious. Ibiki almost laughed. This one had spirit, at least.

After spending a few minutes in a silent tantrum, the boy reluctantly muttered "Naruto. Shadow Clone Technique. Books and tests." Ibiki raised an eyebrow. The boy claimed a jonin-level forbidden technique as his greatest strength. Interesting. Did he know of the fox, though? Ibiki hadn't missed the full name. He knew what it meant.

The girl stood up hesitantly, and looked at both her teammates before speaking. "Sakura. My brain…I guess. Taijutsu." She sat down, blushing fiercely, and Ibiki had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Weaknesses were not things to be ashamed of, but things to be worked through, if necessary. Taijutsu was not a necessary skill for all kunoichi or even all ninja in general, and if she chose that path, she had nothing to be embarrassed about.

The third one got up without prompting, and looked Ibiki straight in the eyes. "Sasuke. Fire Techniques." He stopped there, and appeared unwilling to go on.

"If you say that you have no weaknesses, brat, I will beat you to within an inch of your life, and send you packing back to the academy, no questions asked." Said Ibiki, frowning at the boy. He couldn't honestly believe he was perfect, could he? If he did, Ibiki would be quick to relieve him of that belief. If he passed, of course.

The boy's eyes flashed and his hands clenched. Ibiki could almost hear his teeth grinding together. Abruptly, he seemed to regain some control over himself and looked at Ibiki with an almost condescending look. "Arrogance." He sat down and wrapped himself in an almost smug silence. Ibiki wanted to laugh. The boy thought that was such a small weakness. He'd pay for that later in life.

"Well, now that's over, with let's mov-" Ibiki was cut off by the fox boy, Naruto.

"Sensei, what about you?"

"What about me?" Ibiki calmly asked, raising an eyebrow.

The response seemed to puzzle the genin for a minute, but he finally answered. "Well, it'd be kinda nice to know about the guy teaching us, don't ya think?" He managed to look embarrassed and proud at the same time for asking a question the other two hadn't bothered with.

"I suppose it might. My name is Morino Ibiki. Both my weaknesses and strengths are highly classified and may not be revealed under pain of death." This answer seemed to displease all three children, and Ibiki had to suppress a smile. If they picked up on the hints he was dropping, they would have a much greater chance of completing his test. They were lucky Naruto had thought to ask for his name, or they would have had even less to work with.

"I have a mission for you three." He stated, and watched the genins' reactions.

Naruto, as excitable as it seems he was, had gotten off the bench and was dancing around, shouting at the top of his lungs about some dream about being Hokage and their sensei knowing a good ninja when he saw one. It seemed as if this one was an eternal optimist.

The blacked haired one, Sasuke, the Uchiha, according to the fan on his back, accepted it stoically, but Ibiki could see his entire body had become tense with excitement. He looked at Naruto with distaste, but inside, Ibiki, bet the same thoughts were going through his mind. He would have to watch this one. His type was always the first to break when things got tough. Of course, they also were the easiest to bring back to their feet afterwards.

The girl, however, seemed to be the only one actually thinking about what that meant. She was clearly trying to figure out what kind of mission the team could take on their first day. When she spoke, she watched him warily, checking for his own reactions. He allowed himself a smirk. This one had potential. "Sensei…this isn't a normal mission, is it?"

He let the other two genin consider that for a moment. That thought had obviously not occurred to either of them. When he answered, he had their full attention. "You are correct, Sakura. This mission is a test. If you pass, I will take you all on. If you fail, I will send you all back to the academy, and you will likely never have the chance to become genin, again."

* * *

Writing Ibiki is hard. So is Naruto. But I shall continue to try. I apologize for the chapter taking so long, but I often only can sit still long enough for a couple hundred words before I have to do something else. Plus I had some family issues which kept me away from the internet for several days. Hopefully the next one will come sooner, as I should have much of it written by the time I'm able to release this one. 


	3. The Mission Library Visit

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I have no intentions of profiting from this story.

Chapter Three – The Mission/Library Visit

"What do you mean it's a test!" Naruto angrily shouted, "We already passed Iruka-sensei's test! Why do we have to take another one?"

While Sasuke could have done without the yelling, he did in fact agree with Naruto. They were already genin. Why bother with another test? Hadn't he proven his worth already?

Sakura was quiet, which was rare. Sasuke watched her out of the corner of his eyes, as she carefully observed their new sensei. Had she seen something he'd missed? She had been to one to realize something was up with the mission, something that he should have seen himself. Of course no team would take a real mission on their first day. It was entirely unrealistic, as they knew nothing of each other's skills. Even if it were an easy mission, they'd likely fail it miserably, even with him there.

"You may have proved yourself to the Academy that you can become genin, but you have yet to prove that to me. So far, you three haven't impressed me much, and I see no reason to give you the benefit of the doubt." Said…Ibiki-sensei, Sasuke supposed. This man impressed him. He wasn't cutting them any slack. When they passed, he might prove to be a worthy teacher.

"I'm a busy man, so I'll make this mission simple. By the end of the day, you must find me. To make things a bit simpler, I'll be in my office." Ibiki-sensei sighed, and suddenly look tired, the first time he'd really changed his expression that Sasuke had seen. "I suppose it'll give me time to catch up on my paperwork, if nothing else." Ibiki suddenly smiled. "Well, good luck." Before any of them could say another word, Ibiki had brought his hands up in a seal, and had disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

The three of them were silent for a second, staring at the space where their sensei had stood. He had certainly left them all hanging. And what kind of mission was finding his office? How was this a test? Finding someone couldn't be that difficult, could it?

After a moment, Sakura spoke up, "Well, what do we know about him?"

"What do you mean?" Asked Naruto, as clueless as always.

"Well, we need to find his office to complete this mission. So we need to know who he is so that we can find it." Sakura said with unusual patience.

"All's he told us was his name," muttered Naruto.

With that comment, Sasuke finally realized the enormity of the mission. Finding someone wasn't difficult, assuming that you had enough information to go on. All they had to work with was a name. One name in a village of fifteen thousand people. And on top of that, that person was a ninja. Perhaps this task was not quite as simple as he had originally thought.

"How are we going to find him?" Sasuke asked. He had little knowledge of finding people. If anything, people often came to him, not the other way around.

Naruto appeared to think for a few moments, before he finally spoke up again. "The best way to find people is to ask the ones who know them! Hey, I got it! I'll go ask around the village about him!" He nodded to himself in apparent self-satisfaction, and before the other two could stop him, he had run off in the direction of the busier areas of the town.

"He's such an idiot." Sasuke didn't bother to say it quietly, and Sakura nodded in agreement. "Do you have an idea where to start?" He asked.

She blushed, and Sasuke rolled his eyes. She'd been doing so well, too. "Uh…Well, Sasuke…I thought well…you and me…could try…" He braced himself for the usual request for a date. "…the library?" She asked nervously.

He blinked. "Huh, wait, what?" That was not what he had been expecting.

"Well, the library has lists of all the active shinobi and their positions. We should be able to find Ibiki on it." She said, as if it was something that everybody should have known.

"Oh," said Sasuke, somehow feeling disappointed and relieved at the same time, "I didn't think of that." He hadn't even known the library carried such lists, though, now that he thought about it, it made sense. There had to be a list of all active shinobi somewhere in the village, and beside the Hokage's tower, the library was the most likely place.

Sakura had blushed even redder, if that were possible at his last comment. "Well…we should get going…Umm…We only have till it gets dark." She was twiddling her fingers and refusing to meet his eyes again.

"Alright, lead the way, Sakura." Said Sasuke, rolling his eyes yet again, when she continued to blush.

* * *

Sakura was ecstatic. She finally had gotten Sasuke all too herself. Even though it was only for the mission, and the library was perhaps one of the most unromantic places in Sakura's book, it was a start. Optimism was a byword of Sakura's. She'd take whatever she could get when it came to Sasuke.

She'd been surprised when Sasuke hadn't come up with a brilliant plan to complete the mission first. He was usually the one to come up with good ideas. Maybe being around Naruto was contaminating him. She shivered at that thought. She'd kill him herself before she let that happen. She didn't want damaged goods, after all.

The Konoha Ninja Library was a building that Sakura had spent a great deal of time in during her academy years. She'd spent hours reading through the various scrolls and books detailing the history of the Leaf village, ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, stealth…well, pretty much anything that had to do with being a ninja. She knew almost every book and scroll on its shelves, and she knew exactly where to look. Wouldn't Sasuke be so impressed! She felt dizzy just think about the look on his face, and the attention he'd shower on her, and maybe a declaration of his eternal love…

She shook her head to dispel the idle thought. Sasuke was, of course, the ultimate goal, but for now, passing this test was the important thing. If they didn't then they'd be sent back to the academy, and she'd lose her chance to be on a team with Sasuke, maybe forever! Determined to succeed, she walked up to the front desk with Sasuke trailing behind, rang the bell and then sat back to wait. She knew what to expect from Honya-san.

After ten minutes, with Sasuke looking increasingly impatient behind her, Honya-san finally made her way to the front desk, with a book in her face as usual. Honya was a young chuunin, who due to her passion for books had requested a posting at the ninja library. Her father, a village councilman, had vehemently agreed, for it kept her safe, both from dangerous missions, and the wandering eyes of men. Her short black hair, well developed curves, smiling face, and preference for short skirts had drawn crowds of boys and men and had caused her father endless grief.

Sakura had heard that the girl now almost never left the library, some saying she had undertaken the task of attempting to read every book in the library. It was apparently due to this that the crowds of admirers had stopped gathering, which made Sakura happy, since studying while hordes of dreamy-eyed men were about was difficult. Sakura was also glad for another reason. It was incredibly irritating to see a girl only a few years older than her receiving so much attention, when she couldn't even attract the eyes of the one guy she liked. The world was so unfair!

Honya seemed to rather reluctantly put down her book, and focus her attention on the pair. After a moment of a rather unhappy, but perfectly acceptable expression for most patrons, she saw Sakura and broke into a wide smile that instantly seemed to light up the room. Sakura felt even Sasuke, who even the Sasuke Fanclub on bad days openly speculated about his sexual preference, react and Sakura almost cried in utter despair. Though, it was incredibly hard to cry while being the subject of so much…cheerfulness. "Sakura-chan! It's been almost a week! Where have you been! Those scrolls you've been waiting for from Cloud have finally come in!"

Sakura found herself unable to not smile back and respond in the same cheerful manner, "I'm so sorry, Honya-san! There were finals this week and graduation, and I've just been so busy! I'll grab those scrolls on my way out."

Honya laughed and looked at Sasuke, and a shrewd look entered her eye. "Not just busy with exams were you, Sakura? A boyfriend at last, huh? Why don't you introduce us!"

The library was absolutely quiet for a few moments while both Sakura and Sasuke stared slack-jawed at the girl. Then Sakura blushed from head to toe, and Sasuke began spluttering refusals. Honya threw her head back and laughed. "Your new teammate, right, Sakura-chan? Well, what can I do for the both of you?"

When Sasuke finally lapsed into a quiet silence, which was not sullen, Sakura refused to believe it, and Sakura returned to a relatively normal color, she explained why they were there, and Honya, as always, was more than willing to help. Within a few minutes, she was back with the scroll they requested, and with a parting remark that left both of them blushing, wandered off with her book, again.

Sasuke was muttering things to himself as they headed for a desk to study the scroll, but, for once, Sakura was doing her best to ignore him. She had looked over the scroll several times before, just to familiarize herself both with the various ninja and their jobs and specialties. She didn't remember seeing Ibiki's name, but the list was large, and even with her impressive memory, she couldn't recall everything. She shivered slightly. Some things were better forgotten anyway.

"Sasuke, help me unroll this. The list is in chronological order and we'll probably need to go twenty or thirty years back, I think. I mean, Ibiki-sensei looks pretty old, don't you think?"

Sasuke nodded in agreement and moved to help her unroll the massive scroll. It was very old, dating back to at least the beginning of the Nidame's tenure as Hokage, and possibly older. Sakura had checked many of the names on the list, mostly out of curiosity, but as expected of ninja, there was little if any information available on most of them. Still it was the best source they had, at the moment, and Sakura would go over it with a fine-toothed comb.

They spent some time looking through the scroll; trying to find the years they thought Ibiki might have become a ninja. The scroll was very disorganized, which Sakura had always found a little strange. If it was the official list, why was it so…messy? Plus there were many ninja she knew that did not appear on it. She wondered…

"Umm…Sasuke…Do you…well, recognize…any of the names on the list?" She said, still blushing, despite such a simple question. She sighed to herself. It was so hard just to talk to him…

Giving her a strange look, Sasuke picked up the scroll, and began scanning. She watched him patiently, giving him plenty of time to look over the list. After a minute, a small frown appeared on his face, and with each passing moment, the frown grew. Eventually he looked at her, an angry look on his face. "This scroll is fake, Sakura. Either that, or whoever made it knew nothing of my family."

He drew her close to the scroll with him, and she blushed again, they were so close…But then he began to point to various names on the list. "These names are all Uchiha. But I know for a fact, that no one in my clan ever bore these names. There is also the fact that all of them are dead, and these ones are still listed as active. Also, I see several large clans listed here that do not and have never existed. This scroll is a dead end, Sakura. It's a tool to fool enemy ninja. Its a fake."

He was glaring at her now. She could feel his disappointment and anger for wasting his time. This trip had gotten her attention from Sasuke, but it wasn't the kind she wanted. She bowed her head and sighed. They were running out of time. If this was a dead end, what other options did they have?

"Wait. Didn't Ibiki sensei also say something about something or other being classified?" Sakura suddenly thought.

Sasuke dropped his glare and seemed to consider for a moment. "I think you're right. He said his strengths and weakness were classified, I think."

Sakura sighed. "You know what that means?" He gave her a questioning glance. "Not only is this scroll a fake, but if do find a scroll with real information, his probably won't be on it." They really were going to fail.

Sasuke thought for a moment. "The librarian is unlikely to give us the information we want, considering she gave us this fake one." He looked grim. And angry. Thankfully his focus had shifted away from her.

"Well, it can't hurt to ask. Honya's a friend of mine, so she just migh-!" Sakura was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Do you really think that information would be so easily accessible, Sakura-chan?" Honya's voice mischievously floated out from the shelves, startling both of them. "I guess I can help a little bit, but," she laughed, "you'll owe me."

Sasuke and Sakura traded wary looks. Honya had apparently been listening in. Sakura was angry with herself. Just because Honya acted so spacey, that didn't mean she really was! She was a ninja after all.

"Well, Sakura-chan, you boyfriend looks pretty strong," Sasuke looked like he was going to start spluttering again, but Sakura stopped him with a shake of her head; "So I think I'll head out on lunch break now. Behind the desk is a door, Sakura-chan. It leads to library's storeroom. In that storeroom is the scroll you are looking for! But watch out!" Honya giggled. "I trapped everything myself, so be careful!" And with that, her voice faded away.

Sasuke turned and gave Sakura a weird look. "Are all of you book nerds this crazy?"

If it had been anyone else, Sakura would have decked him, hard. Instead she just hung her head, and promised to herself that she would have a long…discussion with Honya later. Still, she had given them an opportunity…If she was telling the truth.

"Should…we go…for it?" She asked Sasuke, nervous for different reason this time. There weren't any leads other than this one. If they didn't take this chance, Naruto's stupid idea might be their only other option. She shivered at the thought. They would fail for sure.

Sasuke gave the question a few seconds of thought, before smirking. "Of course, she's only a chuunin, after all. I'll get the scroll." Sakura watched him walk towards the door with hearts in her eyes. He was so cool! She bet he could handle even jonin with ease. How could he not? He was Sasuke!

She watched him enter and close the door with confidence and sat back to wait for him to reappear. What she expected was a few minutes of quiet, followed by a triumphant return by Sasuke. What she got was several large explosions, shrieks, and loud crashing noises.

Frightened for her teammate, Sakura rushed to the door, where she waited pensively for several nerve-racking, noisy minutes. When the door finally did open, the sight of a battered and bruised looking Sasuke greeted her. She tried vainly to hold back her instinctual reaction, knowing it would not be appreciated right at that moment, but it was a failed effort. She just couldn't help it.

Still when she had rapped her arms around him and began sobbing over his injuries, despite his unfriendly reaction, which was to push her violently away and put as much distance between the two of them, she had to admit it was worth it, just to touch him,

"You almost crushed the scroll." He said accusingly, despite the faint blush she saw on his checks. Despite the remark, she allowed herself a small internal smile. Any sort of reaction from Sasuke was a welcome one, especially if he was blushing. He looked so cute with his cheeks that red. Though, his shirt half hanging off him, exposing his manly chest was a nice sight to see as well.

"What happened?" She asked, her voice still carrying a hiccup from the crying.

Sasuke looked as if he would ignore the question, but turned as he walked towards their table. "She's a better ninja than she looks." With that, he lay the scroll down on the table and rolled it open, and Sakura was instantly enthralled, forgetting even Sasuke in her rush to examine the scroll.

It was…beautiful, as strange as it was to say that about a scroll. Whoever had written it had clearly taken the time to make it organized, readable, and had even covered much of the extra space with stylized drawings, which upon closer inspection appeared to be emblems on various organizations that made up the Village. There had to be over a thousand names on the list. It looked to be the real deal this time.

"Jackpot!" She said quietly to herself in a predatory tone. She missed Sasuke's sudden uncomfortable look, as she wrestled to fully unroll the scroll, all the while not taking her eyes from it.

"If Ibiki-sensei says his information is classified, he's probably either in Intelligence or in one of the ANBU black ops units. Those are the only units I know of in Konoha that would really need to be classified, I believe. Everyone else just keeps their own secrets." She quickly moved through the units, stopping when she came across a familiar name. "Ah! Here's my dad! He works as an administrator in the Hokage's Tower. This scroll at least has some correct information." Sasuke nodded, though she didn't notice. It seemed he had let her take charge for this.

Finally finding one of the two sections she was looking for, she began scanning more closely. She pointed it out to Sasuke. "Here's Intelligence." She quickly began scanning the list, but soon stopped. "We have a problem." She pointed at something on the scroll.

Sakura almost blushed when Sasuke look over shoulder to see what she had pointed at, but managed to control herself. "What is it, Sakura…Oh, some of the names are missing."

Sakura had noticed that there were several places on the list that had positions listed, but no names. She had thought at first that the maybe the positions were unfilled, thus having no names listed, but on closer inspection, many of the titles were far too specific to be unfulfilled positions. One was labeled 'Water Country Military Bureau Operative – Ninja Operations' and another 'Gatoh Company Operative – Finances Division' and there were a numbers of others; positions that had no reason to be on the list unless someone was actively filling them. Either the scroll was edited, or some form of genjutsu prevented the viewer from seeing all the names unless they had the proper clearance. Sakura chewed on her lip. Either way, the information they needed might be inaccessible to them.

Shaking off her doubts, Sakura finished scanning the Intelligence list with no success, and then moved on to ANBU special ops units. There were several, but none had many members, and they were about as spotty on real information as Intelligence had been. She went through Assassination, the Hokage's personal guard, the shinobi hunters, the deep cover intelligence unit, and the few more general-purpose units. None had any visible information on Morino Ibiki.

The last on the list of the ANBU special ops units was Torture and Interrogation, and the entire list was blank. It was clearly longer than several of the others, but from the top to the bottom, there were no names. All were hidden. She slumped in her chair and looked at Sasuke, and spoke despairingly "I think we just ran out of options."

Sasuke didn't speak, but he didn't have to. Her great idea, the library, had been nothing but a waste of time. Sasuke had gotten hurt and was probably angry with her, and all they had was a scroll that couldn't give them the information they were looking for. It was just so frustrating that she wanted to scream, and if Sasuke hadn't been there, she might have. Instead, she settled for putting her head on the table and slamming her hand on the scroll, coincidentally, right on top of the section she had just viewed, Torture and Interrogation.

She rested her head for a while, but suddenly sat up when she felt the scroll becoming unreasonably warm under her hand, while the air around her had begun to noticeable cool. Looking down at the paper, she felt her eyes go wide. "Sasuke! Look!"

The area under Torture and Interrogation was slowly filling in and the entire scroll was glowing. However, that wasn't what had caught her attention. It was the letters that were floating down onto the scroll, apparently filling in the blank areas. Looking up, she could literally see letters come from all over the room, off book covers, posters, and anything else, float through the air, and settle down onto the scroll.

It was frightening and disturbing to watch, for as soon as it had begun, it felt as if the temperature had dropped ten degrees and the room, which had previously been quiet, was filled with a strange hissing noise. The letters moved unnaturally, with a strange undulating almost slithering motion, and Sakura got the distinct feeling that what was happening was something forbidden, and perhaps borderline dangerous. When one of the letters passed in front of her, she saw it briefly stop, and had the uncomfortable feeling that it was looking at her. However, despite the feeling, all of the names in the section were being filled in, though Sakura noticed distractedly that no other blank sections were being filled in.

It took several minutes for all the names to fill in, while Sakura and Sasuke stood slack-jawed in amazement. When it finally was done, the scroll stopped glowing, and the cold feeling that had descended upon the room disappeared. They exchanged wary looks and cautiously moved to look at the now revealed section.

What Sakura saw first, filled her first with excitement, and then a cold chill descended upon her. The name Morino Ibiki topped the list. Beside it was his position. Chief of Torture and Interrogation. Her mind went blank. Their sensei was the head of the most dangerous and avoided group of ninja in the entire village. What did tha-!

"Sakura!" Sasuke said urgently, grabbing her shoulder.

"I know. He's the leader. Our sensei is the leader." She said, her voice inflectionless, as she struggled to understand what that meant for the team.

"No, not that! Look!" He pointed to the bottom of the list.

She followed his finger down to the indicated spot. Her eyes went wide. There had to be a mistake! There just had to be! What did it mean? How had this happened?

At the bottom of the list were three names, and beside each name was marked Trainee. She shivered as she read the names. Uzumaki Naruto. Uchiha Sasuke. And Haruno Sakura.

* * *

Well, here's chapter three, and my first attempt writing from Sakura's POV. I hope I didn't mess it up too badly. Writing a pubescent girl with a huge crush isn't easy. Especially when you're a guy. But I did my best. Next chapter will have some Naruto POV, which I'm not looking forward to writing, 'cause I am the antithesis of an excitable loud pre-teenager. o.O

Some more general notes. The chapter before this one, this one, and the next were all originally suppose to be one chapter, but things just sort of get out of control, and I end up writing a lot more than I expected. Each of my chapters gets longer. Also, my first non-canon character makes an appearance; though it was by accident she appeared at all. She'll have a few more appearances, but nothing major. Two chapters from now will have all the really major non-canon characters appear. Have to flesh out the unit, or else it'll be sort of boring.


	4. The Path to Victory Lies and Truths

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I have no intentions of profiting from this story.

Chapter 4 – The Path to Victory/Lies and Truths

He should have realized from the beginning that it would be pointless. That no matter what he did and what he accomplished, people would still treat him like trash. Why had he thought of this stupid idea anyway? If he had thought about it for a moment, he would have realized why this was such a bad idea. Especially when your name was Uzumaki Naruto.

After several hours of fruitless questioning, he had taken refuge on the roof of a nearby building. It wasn't the questioning that was fruitless, of course, but the lack of answers. No matter who he asked, he was ignored. They wouldn't even tell him if they had even heard of Morino Ibiki, though every upper-level ninja he had managed to corner had shivered at the name.

Which meant that if one of them had actually taken the time to talk to him, he might have completed this stupid mission already. That would show Sasuke! The look on his face when Naruto had completed the mission first would be priceless. Then even Sasuke would have to respect him. Sasuke would have to admit once and for that he, Uzumaki Naruto, was the best ninja.

Naruto sighed. Too bad it didn't look like that would be happening anytime soon. Still, just the thought of it brought a smile to his face. He would prove to his teammates that he was a good ninja. He would complete this mission, no matter what it took! After all, he was going to be Hokage someday! Feeling reenergized, he climbed to feet, and prepared to go off and find more people to question. He would definitely get an answer this time!

"Watch out, Konoha! Here I come! I'll get the answers I need this time!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, hands waving with a smile on his face. He ignored the scattered shouts from below him, and dashed for the edge of the building. This was his chance to shine!

Just as he reached it and was preparing to jump, he heard a familiar voice speak. Startled, he flailed wildly on the edge of the building, trying desperately to regain his balance while at the same time attempt to turn around to see who had spoken. Unfortunately for Naruto, the two actions didn't work too well together, and after a few seconds of flailing, he completely lost his balance, and toppled off the side of the building. He was lucky enough to just barely catch the edge with one hand and was spared the long, painful, and potentially fatal drop.

He hung there for a few moments, catching his breath and pointedly not looking down, before angrily pulling himself to the top of the building. Catching his breath, he glared at the person standing at the opposite side of the roof. "What did you call me, Sasuke?" He shouted at his teammate.

"I said that you're an idiot. And you just proved it. Nice fall by the way." Sasuke said, with that oh-so-arrogant smirk that always seemed to be turned his way. It made his blood boil every time he saw it. And it wasn't even his fault that he had fallen! If Sasuke hadn't said something just as he was about to jump, he wouldn't have lost his balance! What gave Sasuke the right to judge him when it was his fault?

"Sasuke-kun's right, Naruto. You did look pretty stupid flailing around like that," giggled Sakura, stepping out from behind Sasuke. It figured that she just had to see him while he looked stupid. Why couldn't he ever get lucky and have her catch him doing something cool?

Naruto quickly swallowed his rude reply to Sasuke and smiled at Sakura. "Sakura-chan! Did you and the oh-so-wonderful Sasuke find anything?"

She gave him a sharp look, and then smiled sweetly at Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun and I found out what Ibiki-sensei does. We were going to head to his office, but Sasuke thought we should grab you," she glared at him again, "before we headed to his office. How about you? Did you find anything or did you just manage to mess up like normal?"

Naruto felt the smile slide off his face, and he turned his back to them and crossed his arms. It figured that the two of them would find the stuff they needed, while he came up with nothing. He'd still do this his own way, though. He wouldn't take Sasuke's charity. It was his own way, or no way. He'd pass this test on his own merits. "Not yet. I'll find something, though. You two go on. I'll catch up."

"Well, whatever, Naruto. We're heading to the ANBU building by the Hokage's tower, so when you feel like showing up, you'll find us there." Said Sakura, sounding puzzled and irritated at the same time.

Naruto attempted to ignore that remark for a number of reasons, but something about it struck him as being wrong. After a few seconds of thought, it came to him, and he turned around just in time to catch his teammates attention before they headed off. "Hey, Hey! What do you mean the ANBU building by old man Hokage's tower?"

Sakura turned towards him and made an exasperated noise. "That's where Ibiki's office is. He's in the ANBU. Everybody knows their headquarters is right beside the tower. Have you been stuck in a hole your entire life?"

The insult stung, but Naruto ignored it, in favor of something that people rarely credited to him. He was thinking. Hard. What Sakura said didn't make sense. His forehead creased in thought, he finally asked, "Are you sure?"

Sasuke had walked over to listen in on the conversation and gave Naruto a weird look. "Why do you ask, Naruto?"

For several seconds, Naruto seriously considered just ignoring Sasuke's question, but Sakura's glare was oppressive, and answering offered the easiest way out. "Well, I always figured it was that way." He pointed in a direction in a completely different direction from the Hokage's Tower.

"That's a stupid thing to think, idiot! Where did you ever get that dumb idea? Its always been beside the Tower!" said Sakura contemptuously.

However, Sasuke, for once, said nothing, and actually seemed to wait for Naruto's answer. Naruto found that strange. Maybe Sasuke had sensed that something was off in the way he had asked his questions. Or maybe he was just being less of a snob than usual. "Well…I've sorta been there."

Sakura seemed to be ready to throw out another set of choice insults, when what he said finally processed in her mind. It was definitely not the answer she was expecting. She took a few seconds to recover before asking a question of her own. "What do you mean 'you've been there'? ANBU is an organization for elite ninja! There's no way they'd let you in! They rarely let anyone in their building!" She paused for a second, and Naruto had to lean close to hear the rest. "At least ones that come out later…"

Naruto's mind went into overdrive. He had to think up an answer that didn't reveal any of his secrets. He couldn't let them know the real reason why he had been there. They would be horrified. After a few seconds of frantic thought, he decided that part of the truth would be a good reply. "…I spent a lot of time there when I was a kid…"

A peculiar silence descended upon the group after Naruto's remark, and Naruto refused to lift his eyes from the ground to look at his teammates. This would bring the questions, and the questions would lead to the answers that he didn't want to give. Their reactions would be just like everybody else's, and he'd lose this chance to be accepted as a ninja once and for all.

"Why'd you spend time there, Naruto?" Sakura asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.

Naruto again cast around for a good answer, and chanced a look at Sasuke, who had a strange expression on his face. It wasn't pity, which was something that Naruto refused to accept from anyone, most of all Sasuke, but it was something similar. Understanding, maybe? Did Sasuke, the wonder boy of Konoha think he understood what Naruto had gone through? He almost laughed. No one could ever understand. No one had secrets like he did.

"…Family stuff…" He finally muttered, unable to think of anything more complex and believable. He was surprised when he saw Sasuke flinch slightly. The strange look seemed to become even stronger, and when Sakura opened her mouth, Naruto was even more surprised when Sasuke reached over and grabbed her shoulder, as if telling her not to ask anything else.

"So then, where is it? Can you take us there?" Sasuke asked, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Huh? What?" Said Naruto, surprised at the question, and even more surprised that it was Sasuke had asked.

"I said can you take us there, idiot!" Sasuke said, obviously irritated that he had to ask the question twice.

Naruto thought that over for a moment. He could always find out who Morino Ibiki was after he had shown them the way. He wouldn't have a lot of time left, but it was the least he could do for his teammates. Breaking out into a big smile, Naruto shouted, "Well, of course I can! That's an easy job for an awesome ninja like me! Come on! Follow me!" And with that, he was off, dashing across the room, with his two teammates following close behind him.

Sasuke originally had thought that Naruto had known where he was going. They had started in a straight line, and Naruto had moved with a great deal of purpose. Wherever he was taking them, it seemed they would get there quickly.

However, once they had reached downtown Konoha, Naruto began weaving through streets in such a random way, Sasuke was surprised that Naruto even knew where they were. He now had no hope that Naruto knew where they were going. He should have realized that it was a stupid idea to trust that Naruto actually knew what he said he did.

Still, Naruto was leading them with purpose. Whether he was leading them on the ground, across the rooftops, or in complete circles, he moved like he knew where he was going. He didn't stop to consult street signs, or even just to look confused and lost, he just kept leading them on whatever strange, bizarre path he had chosen.

Still, after the fourth time he had lead them around a local grocery store, Sasuke had finally lost patience with whatever Naruto was attempting to do. He put on a burst of speed, passed Naruto, and then skidded to a stop, forcing Naruto to do so as well, both of them barely missing a comical collision.

"Where do you think you're leading us, idiot? We've been around this place four times, and we've criss-crossed Konoha at least three times! Do you know where are we going, or are you just going to lead us on this waste of time 'til the sun goes down and we all fail?" Sasuke said, putting all of his frustration and anger at the test into those words. Perhaps Naruto didn't deserve all that anger, but it felt good to get it out anyway.

Surprisingly, Naruto had a comeback ready. "You think we can just walk up to ANBU headquarters? Do you have a serious death wish, man? If I took you straight there, and we'd try to go in, we'd be dead or arrested, quicker than it takes to order some ramen! We have to follow the right path just to get there!"

"Oh." Sasuke said faintly. He hadn't thought of that, "Then why are we going in circles?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. To him, it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm attracting the attention of the guy's that watch over the building, duh. If they know we're coming, and that I'm taking the right path, they might just ask question first, instead of just killing us right away. You think they'd just let a bunch of strange kids just walk into their building? If you do, you're way stupider than even I thought, Sasuke."

He opened his mouth to say something, but after a second of thought, he changed his mind. "Ah…You're right, Naruto. Sorry for stopping you."

Sakura, who had, for some reason or other, let them argue for the moment, chose that moment to reassert her presence. "Naruto, if you're done lecturing Sasuke-kun, can we please…well you know, get back to finishing the mission!" The last part was a shout, which for once, was directed at both of them.

Naruto, suitably chastised, sprinted off for yet another seemingly pointless round of the grocery store, and after a second and a not-quite-but-almost-might-just-be-a-glare from Sakura, Sasuke with a sigh took off after him. He'd trust Naruto with this. But if he was leading them wrong, he would make the idiot blond pay in blood.

However, after their little discussion, Sasuke began to notice little things, and more than that, he noticed that Naruto noticed, and even looked for these same things. Every now and then, a fellow ninja would run along beside them for a little bit longer than just a chance meeting justified. And on the path that Naruto took, he began to make out some sort of symbol that Naruto had to be following. It kept reappearing on signs and as graffiti on the walls. It was either that, or Naruto's stupidity was becoming contagious.

Still, when they landed in front of a non-descript office building in the middle of town that they had passed no more than six times, he was a little put out. It didn't help that the building looked nothing like a headquarters for the strongest units in the village. The building Naruto claimed was fake was far more intimidating; with gargoyles and dark arrow-slit windows that practically screamed that the building's occupants were dangerous. This small building with its clean architecture and nondescript appearance was no substitute. Still, thinking back on Naruto's words, he chose not to comment. Still he had to ask. "That's not how the ANBU members get here, is it?"

"'Course not," Naruto said, studying the building with what seemed to Sasuke to be mixed emotion, "They can just walk right up if they want to. It's the visitors that have to do the weird paths. There are a couple of 'em, and the one I usually take is the one when I'm running from the…" His ever-present grin dropped for a second, before coming back full force. "Well, taking that one right now would get me in a bunch of trouble." He laughed, though it sounded forced.

"So which one did we take?" Asked Sakura, slightly winded from their journey. He frowned at that. They had barely broken a sweat. She had no reason to be breathing that hard. She obviously needed training if she couldn't even deal with a run around the village.

Naruto thought about that for a moment. "Uh..Well, we took the one that pretty much said we had business, but we didn't need…" Naruto paused for a second, apparently trying to think of an easy way to explain, "Well, need a squad of ANBU to rough up the people behind us."

That remark left Sasuke wondering what path Naruto usually had to take. Naruto had been surprisingly closemouthed about the whole affair so far, and Sasuke didn't think prying would get him any more answers. Generally, he'd be bragging so loud about what he knew that people three villages over would know.

Naruto turned away from the building and looked at the two of them with a little smile on his face that Sasuke couldn't quite read. "Well, here you are, guys. I don't know where sensei's office is, but if you ask whoever's at the desk really nicely, they might tell. I'm off to bug some more shinobi."

Sakura spoke up, confused. "Bug them for what, Naruto?"

Naruto laughed and put his hands behind his head, like he always did when he was a little embarrassed. Sasuke rolled his eyes. He should have realized this was coming. Naruto would be Naruto, as always. "Well, You guys managed to figure out who he was, but I still haven't. Can't complete the mission without the information, you know?" He laughed and made as if to sprint off into the crowd.

Unfortunately for Naruto, Sakura's fist was faster. She suddenly appeared behind him and gave him a punch that made even Sasuke wince. It didn't help that the sudden attack was unexpected. The hit sent him flying through the air to impact on the wall of the headquarters building, barely missing a tinted window. The girl really could have ungodly strength when she felt like it. Too bad she didn't train herself to use it.

Grunting in pain, Naruto pulled himself out of the small body-shaped dent in the building, and looked mournfully at Sakura and wailing, "Sakura-chan! What was that for? I didn't even do anything this time!"

For a second, she looked upon Naruto, fist upraised, eyes burning, seeming ready to bring down all the wrath of God upon Naruto's head. Naruto was shivering at the waves of killer intent she was giving off, and Sasuke had to avert his eyes to avoid shivering as well. The seemingly enraged girl stomped over the shivering Naruto, who was far too frightened to move. He had just enough time to close his eyes and pray for a pleasant reception in heaven when she struck.

Of course, neither Sasuke nor Naruto had expected Sakura to put Naruto into a headlock and start rubbing his head with her knuckles. It still looked painful to Sasuke, and the groans of pain from Naruto confirmed it, but it wasn't the death sentence that both of them of them expected.

"You idiot! We're here already! We know what he does! You're coming with us!" She shouted, ignoring he stares from passersby.

There was a brief tussle, and Naruto managed to slip out Sakura's iron grip and back towards the relative safety of Sasuke, who didn't appreciate the fact that Naruto was so willing to put him in danger. "But Sakura-chan! I have to complete the mission!" He hung his head. "I haven't done anything yet."

This time, it was Sasuke's turn to hit Naruto; though he only tapped his teammate on the back of the head hard enough to send him stumbling forward a few feet. Ignoring Naruto's betrayed look, he spoke without looking him in the eyes. "You brought us here. If you're right and this is the ANBU headquarters, we have completed the mission. We would have never found this building by sunset." Did he have to spell it out to the stupid kid? He turned towards the door and prepared him to enter, "You two coming? Or am I going to have to take the credit for this all by myself?"

He was laughing inside when he heard Naruto's angry shout and walked into the building. Naruto was so predictable. Say the right thing, and he did whatever you wanted. He stopped laughing when he saw the interior. The outside of the building had looked like a normal office building, while the inside…looked like a normal office building. It was a lobby completely like every lobby Sasuke had even seen, complete with a bored looking secretary behind a desk by the elevators.

He heard his teammates enter behind him, and he heard Sakura' harsh question whispered behind him. "Naruto! Are you sure this is the right building? I swear, if you're wrong…" She trailed off and Sasuke could imagine the look she was giving him.

He heard Naruto scoot passed him and saw the harried look on his face, but he still walked with the same confidence that had lead them here. Whatever this place really was, Naruto knew where he was going. Or at least thought he knew.

He strode ahead of them, though instead of heading for elevators as Sasuke had expected, he had turned towards a section of wall near the receptionists desk. Sasuke frowned at that for a moment, but after a few seconds, smiled. Clever. Along the wall every few feet there was some sort of ornamental piece, except the area Naruto was heading for. The space left was big enough for a good size door. It was something that casual glance wouldn't really notice, or if it were, it would be ignored as just a piece of broken decor. It was obvious enough, though, to be easily described to someone who had never visited the building for official business. A good compromise for an official, yet secretive organization.

"Can I help you with something, kids?" said the secretary from her desk as they passed her. She sounded bored, yet perky at the same time, a tone it seemed all female secretaries seemed to be capable of. Sasuke felt something strange about the women, though, and upon closer inspection; he realized she wasn't a secretary at all. It wasn't all that surprising, on further thought, to have a kunoichi pose as secretary.

"No thanks, just passing through." Naruto said breezily, and with a few quick flicks on what had to be a set of hidden levers, he pushed the door open, and held it for his teammates. Before Sasuke passed through, he saw the surprised expression on the kunoichi's face, and had to chuckle to himself.

"Hey, Fox! What do you think you're doing? Wait! That area is off limits to-" said the secretary, before the door swung shut behind Naruto.

Sasuke stared at Naruto curiously. The blonde had gone strangely pale at the kunoichi's remark. "What was that about?"

Naruto laughed nervously, "Just a nickname some people gave me. You know, with all my pranks," he smirked at that, though still appeared nervous, "and the marks on my face. It just kinda seemed natural, I guess."

Sakura gave him a considering look, before smiling. "You're right, it does fit. I like it, 'Fox'." Naruto blushed at the remark, but for some reason, Sasuke got the feeling he wasn't too pleased. Since when did the dead last have so many secrets?

Turning away from the blond, Sasuke examined the room that Naruto had lead them into. He wasn't quite sure what he had been expecting once they were really in the ANBU headquarters, but a small dark room wasn't it. The room was connected to a bunch of branching corridors, and a stairway. None of them were marked, and if he was right, the building was likely a complete maze to hamper intruders, like themselves.

"I don't suppose you know where Torture and Interrogation is, do you?" He asked Naruto dryly. Whatever secret reason he had for being here regularly as a child probably had nothing to do with Ibiki-sensei's department. Though at the moment, it seemed pretty much anything was likely if it concerned Naruto.

"No," He gave Sasuke a puzzled look, "Why do you want to go there, anyway? I thought we needed to find Ibiki-sensei."

Sasuke blinked and was already opening his mouth his mouth to lecture Naruto about his stupidity, when he realized they hadn't told Naruto who Ibiki-sensei was. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he quickly explained to Naruto what they had found out at the library.

"Oh, That makes sense." Was all that Naruto said after hearing the explanation, frustrating both Sasuke and Sakura. It wasn't every day that one found out one's teacher was one of the most feared ninja in the village. Was the blond really that dense? He should have some reaction!

"I really don't know where that place is. Every time I come here, I go upstairs to…" Naruto paused, his brow wrinkling, trying to think, "The tactical teams' office. It's pretty much a straight shot between to there from here, so I never see anyplace else. " He grimaced. "Plus, they don't mark the offices."

"It should be downstairs," Sakura suddenly said.

Sasuke and Naruto both turned to look at her, and asked "Why?"

She seemed to shrink in on herself for a second, seeming to not like the sudden scrutiny from both her teammates. "Well…when they always talk about torture, it's always done in dungeons. And a dungeon is pretty much a basement, right? So if we go downstairs we should find the unit."

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look for a second, and then both shrugged. "Its not like we have anything else to go on, " Sasuke muttered.

The stairwell was small and cramped, but strangely dry. If they were heading into a dark, dank dungeon where prisoners were tortured horrifically until they gave up their precious information, it was a rather well maintained one. He thought Sakura's idea was pretty stupid, but it was more of an idea than the rest of them had, since Naruto had said the offices were unmarked.

Suddenly Sasuke realized something. "Even if we do find the area for Torture and Interrogation, how will we know which office will be Ibiki-sensei's? You said they were all unmarked." He asked, feeling irritated.

Naruto turned to look at him from further down the stairs, "Duh, we'll ask somebody!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "What makes you think anybody will answer that to a group of genin that probably aren't even suppose to be here, Fox?"

Naruto flinched at the nickname, but managed a weak laugh, "Well, why not? You got any better ideas?"

Sasuke almost laughed. Naruto had a very good point. "Using that logic, we could have just asked someone on the last floor where the office was."

Naruto just shrugged and continued down the stairs, arms tucked behind his head. "Too late now."

When they finally reached the bottom of the stairwell, they walked out into a room almost entirely identical to the first one. Naruto immediately walked down one of the hallways, and to an open door. He stuck his head in, and Sasuke could hear a short conversation coming from inside. After a minute, he heard Naruto give a brief word of thanks and walked back to them.

"His office is in the next hallway over, third door on the left." And with that, he walked done the path.

Sasuke and Sakura traded exasperated looks, and then walked off behind him. "What did you tell the guy?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, I told him we were doing messenger stuff for the Hokage, and that Ibiki-sensei was needed for a meeting. Messengers come through here all the time, pretty much, though they go through the roof door. They get even more lost on the upper levels, though. Some of the hallways switch floors every now and then." Naruto said.

Arriving at the designated door, they knocked for several minutes, waiting for Ibiki to answer. Strangely enough, he seemed to not be in. Why would the man give them directions to come to his office, if he wasn't going to be there?

"Maybe he's out to lunch?" Said Naruto. Sakura smacked him.

They waited for another ten minutes, earning several strange look from passing ninja. Some bore the masks of ANBU, while some dressed like any other shinobi. They all looked dangerous, dangerous enough to make even Sasuke edgy, but after a cursory glance, they seemed to ignored the group. Predictably, Naruto soon became bored.

"Stupid Ibiki-sensei! Why'd he make us do this dumb mission-test-thing and not even be here to see us finish it! When I see him, I'm gonna-!" Naruto grabbed hold of the door handle, and possibly thinking to break the door down, had twisted and pushed hard. Unfortunately for him, the door turned out to be unlocked, and when it was pushed, it flew open. The crash of Naruto hitting the floor echoed through the hall.

Sasuke and Sakura stared nonplused at Naruto and the now open office. Sasuke turned to Sakura, barely holding back a smile. "I guess we should have checked the door?" Sakura burst into giggles, and Naruto, after pulling himself to his feet, joined them.

They briefly searched the room, and Naruto, flipping through reports on the single desk in the room, confirmed that it was indeed Ibiki-sensei's office. They settled down on the various chairs and tables around the room, and waited for Ibiki to appear.

And they waited.

And waited some more. By this time, Naruto had begun doodling all over the reports on the desk, and Sakura and Sasuke had given up trying to stop him.

And waited even longer. Sakura had long since joined Naruto, and between the two of them, they had managed a fairly accurate picture of the village. Sasuke had fallen asleep on the small couch in the room.

Finally, Naruto jumped to his feet and began pacing the room, muttering to himself. Sasuke, waking up, stared at him for a second, then finally found the energy to speak. "Well, what's up with you?"

Naruto turned to him, and smiled. This wasn't his normal smile. This was the one the all the members of Iruka's class were very familiar with.

"I have a plan to get back at Ibiki-sensei for making us wait!"

I really apologize for the delay! Life caught up with me for a while, and to tell the truth, I'm not a big fan of this chapter. I wanted to go back and rewrite Naruto POV, 'cause while I do like it, I'm not real sure its IC enough. Writing excitable people is hard. o.O Still, I do like the dialogue for this chapter. It took a few tries, but I finally got a Naruto style that I think will work for me. This ends what originally was suppose to be Chapter 1. Next chapter has an Ibiki POV and either a Naruto POV or Iruka one. Possibly both.

Some more general notes. My use of honorifics like –san and –sensei is sort of random, I know and I apologize. I'm trying to make it more normal, but I'm still trying to get comfortable with them. Also, when I do start using Ninja techniques, they will likely be fully in English. No 'Shadow Clone Jutsu' or 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,' just 'Shadow Clone Technique.' Reasons: I think the first sounds really stupid, and I know little Japanese and I have no wish to mutilate the language by trying to create names for original techniques for the story. However techniques with signature names like 'Rasengan' and 'Chidori' will be kept (if they even appear at all!).

And finally, thank you for all your reviews!


	5. Surprises The Law

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I have no intentions of profiting from this story.

Chapter 5 Surprises/The Law

Ibiki took once last glance at the waning sunset behind him before he walked into headquarters with a sigh. That bloody office made him paranoid every time he had to use it. He understood the necessity of having such a building, and even understood why he occasionally he had to be seen inside it, but there were places he'd much rather be. A Cloud torture chamber, the middle of a battlefield, or Anko's personal 'fun room' were a few he could name offhand. Anyone who could so calmly work with such a huge window to their back was a much braver man than he. Only the weight of several weeks of backed-up paperwork had kept him in that office for so long.

He was a tad bit disappointed that the three genin hadn't passed his test. Discovering his identity should have been the only difficult part, and even that should have been relatively easy, assuming the three took some time together to discuss their options. Any ninja worth his salt knew who Morino Ibiki was, and while that information technically was top secret, it was common knowledge around the village, even if there were few documents that could prove it. If the three would-be genins had approached a knowledgeable ninja in the right way, they could have easily found it out with minimum trouble.

Which, of course, was the reason why they wouldn't have done it that way. He had left them with no information other than his name and the impression that his information would be incredibly difficult to find. The girl and the Uchiha would likely over think the whole test and wouldn't even bother to consider a solution as simple as that, and they'd easily convince the Fox-boy of the stupidity of the idea should he think of it. Likely they'd gone off to do some useless research at some library or tried some amateur spying somewhere and had run out of time, or had just given up.

It was a pity; he had somehow managed to work through all of the backed-up paperwork that had managed to accumulate over the past few weeks, and, with nothing else to do, had started to work up profiles and possible training regimens for the three. He had sent a runner off for their files, and had spent the rest of the afternoon digging through various reports, psychological and physical examinations, teacher impressions, criminal records (exclusively Naruto's, unsurprisingly; 137 counts of vandalism of public property, charges filed, but immediately withdrawn by order of the Hokage), the Hokage's personal recommendations, and all other sorts of other paperwork that found their way into an aspiring ninja's folder. Naruto's file had been the largest by far, largely filled with complaints from teachers and victims of his many pranks, while Sakura's was the smallest, with only report cards and a few glowing recommendations from previous teachers.

The Uchiha brat was hands-down the best and most balanced ninja of the group. Graduating at the top of his class, his taijutsu and ninjutsu were years ahead of most genin his age, though his genjutsu ability was below average. However, buried amidst many of praising reports Ibiki had found several worried reports that the boy possessed an uncontrolled temper, a dark ambition, and that he had considerable trouble dealing with his peers. From barely half-an-hour of meeting the kid, Ibiki had a pretty clear idea of what he was about. Considering the kid's history, it really wasn't all that surprising. It certainly was better than catatonic stupor or complete denial, but worrisome nonetheless. Teaching the brat anything other than the basics would definitely have been a no. Anything powerful would have had the potential to make the unstable kid even worse. It was likely he would have had to break the kid all the way down and then build him back up to get anywhere positive with him. Any other method could have had the potential to backfire rather spectacularly.

The Haruno girl, Sakura, would be much easier to deal with. She'd graduated second in her class, behind Sasuke, but during her entire academic career, she'd consistently scored near perfect in every class that was largely academic. That spoke of both a keen mind and an impressive memory. And from his few moments with her, it seemed as if she was quite capable of applying that mind, when she wasn't obsessing over the Uchiha. If it weren't for her almost completely mediocre physical talents, she'd have been considered one of the class prodigies, like the Uchiha brat or the Hyuga kid he'd heard Gai ranting about one night outside a bar while he was drinking with the former-Captain Hatake. That problem could have easily been fixed with training, and he'd been running out of things for Itami to do. According to the teachers' reports, Sakura had excellent chakra control for someone of her age, and Itami could have taught her many things to do with that control, once her stamina was good enough.

Uzumaki was an enigma. Horrible scores across the board, except, surprisingly, in pre-mission planning, where he had apparently excelled to the great surprise of many of the teachers. Several had actually accused the Fox-boy of cheating, and when it was proven that the boy was innocent (a rarity in itself), one of them had been forced to resign, taking the blame for the whole affair. Other than that, much of Uzumaki's information was either incomplete or so prejudicial that even Ibiki found it hard to draw conclusions from them. The only two relatively usable documents came from Iruka and the Hokage. However, Ibiki found it hard to take Iruka's information seriously, largely due to the fact that Iruka was the one responsible for attempting to saddle him with a team in the first place. However, his recommendations were remarkably candid, discussing at length both Naruto's strength and weaknesses. His taijutsu was sloppy, but passable for a genin, though he had no notable ninjutsu other than the Shadow Clone technique, and was completely clueless about genjutsu. The last was not the boy's fault, for according to the records no teacher had ever bothered trying to teach the blonde genjutsu, reckoning it a waste of time for such a hopeless case. Or perhaps fearing that the boy would take to it with frightening quickness and skill. After all, foxes were said to be natural tricksters.

However, Iruka also spoke of the kid's fierce determination to succeed, and his powerful desire to be acknowledged by his peers and by the village in general, words Iruka knew would resonate with Ibiki. Iruka suggested that close and one-on-one training and attention with the boy might provide surprising results. And from what Ibiki had seen, Iruka's prediction would likely be correct. Naruto had a fierce desire for attention, and, judging by the pranks that Ibiki had witnessed, would go to many lengths to obtain it. He would have put Ryoushi on evaluating the boy's skills, and then would have made his own decisions later. After all, the Hokage's note had been simple and direct. Ignore Iruka's recommendations at his own peril.

Too bad all the research would be wasted. The kids had failed his test, and Ibiki was rarely in the mood to be charitable. He'd send them back to the academy with a strong recommendation that the three never become eligible for genin again. If they couldn't do a simple information-gathering mission in their own village, they obviously lacked what it took to become decent shinobi. He'd also make sure that his request for a team be withdrawn. Iruka's meddling was unwanted, no matter what the teacher thought. He was far too busy with T&I.

Passing the information desk/sentry post, Ibiki almost had to laugh. It was always amusing to see who headquarters managed to rope into manning the desk. Most ninja thought it was even worse than pulling gate-sentry duty. Dealing with lost business people and wandering tourists was a one-way ticket to a massive headache. After all, you never knew who truly was a lost tourist and who was an enemy infiltrator. It was a job that often inspired paranoia in the sanest and most stable shinobi. The job required a great deal of patience and forbearance. And the kunoichi currently sitting at the desk was well known for her lack of both of those qualities.

"Whose bad side did you manage to get on this time, Miss Secretary?" He said, cracking a rare smile.

She refused to even look at him, continuing to read the magazine in front of her, "Shove it, Ibiki."

Rolling his eyes and still smiling, Ibiki turned from the desk and headed for the passageway. Seeing her of all people doing that thankless job, instantly brightened Ibiki's day. He'd rarely got such good leverage on people. He'd make sure she never forgot it. Maybe he'd stop by before she left to snap a few pictures, just to irritate her. She wasn't often seen in normal clothes, after all. Flipping the latches, he opened the door and was about to walk into the passageway beyond when her voice interrupted him.

"I'll stop by your office later, Ibiki, after your meeting. We have something to discuss." She said quietly, which was unusual for her. She was loud and blunt, not quiet and secretive. He nodded in response, and slipped through the door. He had gotten stranger requests from stranger people. Well, maybe not stranger people.

Heading for the stairs, he pondered her remark. What meeting? Staff meetings weren't till Wednesday, and the Captains' meeting wasn't for another week. He hadn't had a private appointment in months. No sane person scheduled a meeting with the T&I captain. Unless they wanted the release of a family member from custody. Or were attempting to somehow blackmail either him, or one of his team. Or to try to kill him. Those meetings were few and far between, however. What had he missed?

He puzzled over it on the first few flights of stairs, and then shrugged it off. Despite his meticulous scheduling, even he made mistakes on occasion. It wasn't worth dwelling on. If the person he was supposed to meet was still there, he'd meet with them, fill out the team dismissal paperwork, and then head home for a relatively early night. In fact, with all the paperwork he'd gotten done today, maybe he'd get lucky and get to leave early for the rest of the week. Of course, that relied on it not building up again overnight, which it had the strange and frightening habit of doing.

He cleared his head of such thoughts when he reached the basement. He had to present himself in the way his reputation had often lead people to expect. Calm, cold, and menacing. Capable of going from pleasant conversation in one moment, to frightening interrogator in the next. Things that he could do quite well, in fact. More than one subject had been broken that way, surprise and fright doing them in.

Moving towards his office, he carefully schooled his face to detached calmness and took a deep breath. Stopping in front of his door, he quickly kneeled and picked a hair from the ground. Before he had left in the morning, he had placed the hair between the door and the frame as a simple but effective way of checking for intruders. By unfortunate necessity, he had to keep his door unlocked, to allow members of his team to have access to certain files in his office. It was inconvenient and generally considered a security risk, but all the papers were infused with a technique that erased them if they left the room. If an intruder got this far into the building, it was unlikely he or she would be stopped by any protection that Ibiki could put on the door anyway.

Reluctantly, Ibiki opened the door, and stepped in, ready to greet his guest. Irritatingly, there was no one directly visible, though he could easily feel anticipation and some form of intent in the air. So, some young punk thought he was going to play games before he had his appointment. Probably hoped to impress the captain, before demanding entrance into the unit. Ibiki hated those meetings, which was probably why he'd conveniently 'forgotten' about it. Idiots never seemed to realize that people didn't join the Torture and Interrogation unit because they wanted to. It was because they couldn't fit in anywhere else.

Ibiki's attention was drawn to movement near his desk. One of the perks of his job was the rather comfortable executive chair, instead of an uncomfortable wooden one other members of the Corps received. The chair had begun to spin to face him, and he could now see someone's legs pushing it. Ibiki rather liked that chair, and he became irritated when others sat in it without permission. He was going to teach this punk some man-!

When the person sitting in the chair became fully visible, Ibiki's world suddenly narrowed to a very small sliver of space. Unknown to him, his jaw had dropped wide open in a very uncharacteristic look of pure and total surprise. His eyes were filled with sweet young curves, long blond hair, and a coy smile. Everything about the girl now sitting in his chair screamed young and beautiful from her unblemished skin to her long golden hair.

Ibiki suddenly realized something was about to explode, and exerted his momentous and legendary self-control to stop it. After all, a massive nosebleed was not something that one wished a beautiful woman to see, even to a woman of this…kind. He closed his gaping mouth and schooled his face in a carefully constructed and rigidly held scowl and tried to regain the last few shards of dignity. The nude woman just smiled coyly at him and winked.

He barely prevented his jaw from dropping again by quickly turning and marching down the hallway. Entering the next office down, he grabbed the surprised man inside by the collar of his shirt, lifted him bodily out his chair and off the ground, and carried him, protesting and kicking all the way, back to his office. Dropping him to the ground roughly, he shoved the man against the doorframe, and fixed him with a glare that had broken far greater men. "Ejiki, you have two minutes to explain yourself. Or I will break every bone in your body starting with you fingers and ending with your toes."

Ejiki looked between the still smiling girl and Ibiki for several moments in confusion. Then, suddenly, his eyes grew as wide as saucers and he suddenly blurted out in an almost unintelligible rush, "It wasn't me this time, Boss! Honest! I know what I said, but I had nothing to do with this!" he looked at the girl again, and she winked. He blushed heavily. "But I do have to say, Boss, Nice Catch!"

Ibiki was not amused. He did not appreciate being lied to by one of his subordinates. He grabbed Ejiki by the collar of his shirt again, and lifted him into the air once again. He spoke calmly, occasionally shoving the unfortunate man against the doorframe to insure he had his full attention. "I believe it was you, Ejiki, who suggested I get out more at the staff meeting last week. It was you, Ejiki, who offered to call several reputable escort services, and request a suitable lady. Why should I believe that it was anyone but you, Ejiki, who chose to-" Ibiki's interrogation was interrupted by the sound of laughter.

The girl who was sitting in his chair was laughing. Not just laughing, but rolling around in the chair, as if what she was witnessing was the funniest thing in the world. Her rolling had the side effect of throwing her ample assets around, which was for the two watching men in a very pleasing manner. However, that image was ruined when the girl abruptly vanished in a poof of smoke and was replaced with a boy. A very familiar boy.

"You should…have seen…your faces!" Naruto managed to gasp out, in between fits of laughter.

Ibiki's eyebrow began to twitch. Ibiki was not amused. He became less even less amused, when the brat's two teammates came out of hiding. The Haruno girl was openly giggling, and even the Uchiha, who didn't seem to be the type to find anything funny, was bearing a smirk. The last straw came when Ejiki snapped out his shock, and joined the three in their laughter. In fact, the man joined the brat in rolling on the ground in uncontrollable fits.

Ibiki sighed. Good help was so hard to find these days.

Ibiki grabbed the man and politely shoved him out the door. "I apologize for the misunderstanding. You may return to work." The man nodded, picked himself up while still laughing, and began to walk, not in the direction of his office, but towards the small break room on the next floor. By tomorrow, Ibiki knew the whole building would know. He wouldn't hear the end of it for months. Few people ever bested Morino Ibiki, but when it did happen, the people upstairs never seemed to shut up about it.

Slamming the door, Ibiki quickly spun around to glare at the three troublemakers. The noise had immediately quieted the laughter, and both the Uchiha and Sakura were properly wary. Naruto however, was grinning at him, and seemed thoroughly pleased with himself. Silently grating his teeth, Ibiki stalked slowly over to the chair, expression never changing. With every step, the boy's smile grew smaller and smaller, until Ibiki finally stood in front of the boy. To Naruto's credit, Ibiki could feel no fear, but there was a certain…wariness about the boy. He had been laughing uncontrollably the moment before, but now the boy was on edge, ready to fight or flee.

Looking into the boy's eyes, Ibiki saw only defiance and the sparkle of laughter left from his successful prank. Ibiki laughed to himself. The boy was daring him to retaliate. That glare brought back memories long buried. As Iruka knew it would, curse the man. "Out of my chair, boy."

The boy blinked once in confusion, before shrugging, flashing him a fox's grin, and jumping out of the chair to stand with his teammates. Ibiki rolled his eyes, and proceeded to tune out the presence of the kids. Setting him briefcase on the desk, Ibiki sat in his chair, and took a brief moment to enjoy the comforts of a windowless office. There were only two things down here that could spring on him out of nowhere. Irritating subordinates and bratty genins who had no clue what they were getting themselves into. Maybe it wasn't so safe after all.

Ibiki let out a silent sigh, and turned to face the trio. Ignoring the impatient look on Naruto's face, he took his time studying them, for it seemed that he would be seeing a great deal of them in the future. Sasuke leaned against the wall opposite the door, outwardly appearing as cool and calm as one could ask for. Not one hair out of place, and unruffled as a statue. Ibiki could tell inside he was anything but calm. The occasionally twitch by his hand revealed the impatience, and the way he occasionally seemed to casually scan the room was a clear sign that the boy was nervous. Good, but not good enough.

Sakura was clearly nervous, but seemed to be successfully suppressing whatever impatience she was feeling. She seemed to be taking a great deal of comfort from the presence of her teammates. She had scooted as close to the Uchiha as the brat would let her get without pushing her away, and even occasionally followed Naruto with her eyes. She was also frightened, he could tell by the way she would clench her hands, and lean towards Sasuke. Surprisingly he didn't think it was him she was afraid of, for she was openly studying him. Something had shaken her today, and she thought that he had something to do with it.

Naruto had apparently become bored enough that he had taken it upon himself to explore the office. Ignoring the fact that Ibiki was obviously watching, he had wandered to the other end of the office and had begun to rummage through the smaller desk in the corner. Other than the obvious impatience, Ibiki found himself unable to see any other indicators of negative emotion. For all intents and purposes, it seemed as if Naruto was completely confident and unafraid of the consequences of his actions. That spoke either of great self-confidence or stupidity the likes of which Ibiki had not seen grace his office in many years. Outside Ejiki, at least.

Ibiki finally broke the science with a few terse words, "Mission report."

The three exchanged confused looks, before Sakura shrugged and stepped forward, "Upon receiving orders, the team discussed our options and came to a disagreement upon how to proceed with our orders. Sasuke and I undertook…"

* * *

Ibiki listened to her report with a critical ear. It was short, to the point, and surprisingly frank, at least when it dealt with herself or Naruto, though even words of praise for Sasuke were few and far between, and often actually deserved. When she finished, Naruto shuffled forward, and gave a short summary of his own exploits before joining up with the team. His report was by no means professional, but it was frank, and as Sasuke was largely uninvolved, had little rude language.

Overall, Ibiki was impressed. Not that any of them had done anything particularly impressive. Much of their successes were based largely on dumb luck. But luck was an important skill for a shinobi to have. If the librarian hadn't been a personal friend of Sakura or if Sasuke hadn't suggested returning for Naruto the mission would have likely failed. The fact was that, in the end, the three of them had somehow managed to stick together, and despite the inherent dislike for each other, had cooperated to complete the mission. Ibiki wasn't as big on teamwork as some of the other jonins were, but that was an accomplishment even some elder ninja couldn't copy.

He wasn't going to tell them any of that, though. It would as likely as not break up the fragile teamwork they had managed to pull together. Nor was he going to tell them that he had actually expected them at his office in the fake headquarters. Let them think this was all a part of the assignment. It kept the illusion of his omniscience going for a little longer.

The three genin were looking at him anxiously, waiting his word. Ibiki sighed. "Congratulations. You three have successfully completed the mission and test I have set before you. You are, as of now, genin of the Village Hidden in the Leaf." He braced himself for the noise that would inevitably follow.

Naruto was all over the room, jumping up and down, screaming at the top of his lungs about being Hokage and something about being the best ninja ever. Sasuke had unfrozen a little, and instead of the stony, emotionless expression he had been wearing, was now wearing the smirk that Ibiki had seen earlier. Sakura, however, was not celebrating, which interested Ibiki. She was uncharacteristically patient in waited for Naruto to finish the majority of his celebrating before she finally spoke up.

"Umm…Ibiki-sensei…I…have a question." She said, trying not to stutter. Perhaps she was going to bring up the topic that had been troubling her before? Ibiki leaned slightly forward to listen

"What is it?" He asked calmly.

"Umm…Well…" She seemed to waver in indecision for a few moments, before gathering her courage. "I left one thing out from my report. At the library, when Sasuke and I examined the scroll, we weren't marked as simply a genin team. Sensei, we were marked as trainees under your unit. What does that mean? And why were we marked like that?"

Ibiki nodded, understanding the cause of her worries. He took a moment to think of a suitable answer. There were any number of answers he could give, but often the best and most believable answers had a kernel of truth to them. "Back during the war, we were often unable to assign one jonin to train a genin team exclusively. This was largely due to the need for jonins on the front line," he paused for a moment, and closed his eyes," and also due to high rates of death among those jonins. Because of this, new genin teams were often assigned to a unit of ninjas, including the ANBU. They would perform various tasks for the unit, and in return the various ninja of the unit would train the genin when time permitted. It was an effective system for the time, but when the war ended, the old system returned."

Naruto had fidgeted through the entire first part of the explanation, and Ibiki was unsurprised when he blurted, "But sensei! Why are we here then? We aren't at war, and there are plenty of jonins who could take us on!" The other two nodded agreement.

Ibiki let a bitter laugh escape. "I wouldn't say there are plenty of jonins, but yes, there are others who could easily take you on. But, the Hokage has been convinced that I am the perfect jonin to train you three. Normally that would involve me quitting my position to devote all of my time to you three, but it has been decided that I am too important where I am currently. Thus you have been assigned to the unit instead of just to me."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "So you don't have time for us? Jonin are only assigned teams if they request one. Why did you request one, if you couldn't train one?"

Ibiki was silent for a moment. "I requested a team several years ago, before I even joined the ANBU. It seems that I forgot to withdraw that paperwork when I became too busy for it."

The three genin were quiet for a second, the Naruto began to laugh hysterically, Sasuke gave Ibiki a look of utter disgust, and Sakura just looked confused.

"That's…the funniest…thing…I have…ever…heard!" Naruto said between bursts of laughter. "We're here…because…of messed-up paperwork!" He stopped laughing when Sasuke elbowed him hard in the stomach, knocking the air out of lungs.

"Idiot! That means we're here just because of a mistake! No other reason." Sasuke crossed his arms angrily, and ignored Naruto gasping curses, "Why are we still here then? Why didn't you just fail us to get us out of your hair, if you are so busy?"

"Because it was my mistake, and I don't make others pay for my failures." Ibiki said, looking Sasuke directly in the eye. The boy's eyes went wide for a second, and then dropped their angry gaze.

"That brings us, then, to my rules. You will follow them to the letter, or I will ship you back to academy. My rules all exist for a reason, some of which I will tell you, some of which you will learn, and some of which you will never know. Is that clear?" The three nodded, though Sasuke did so reluctantly. Ibiki noted that Sakura was paying especially close attention. He almost smiled. Good girl, learn the rules, learn the ways around them, and learn how to use them to your advantage.

"First, you are attached to this unit. You will arrive at 7:30 every morning and will be allowed to leave when I say. You will have duties that will need to be completed every day. If you do not complete them, you will be disciplined. As a side effect of these duties and my own schedule, you will be unable to take on many normal missions. Because of this, you will be paid a small salary and every week you work here will be registered as a 'D' rank mission on your record."

Naruto and Sasuke both looked a bit disgruntled at the idea of no missions, but Sakura simply nodded. That was a real disadvantage to attaching a team to a unit. If the unit wasn't deployed into the field, it did not give the genin much chance to complete their own missions, which meant they often were paid very little and took longer to become eligible for promotion. Except within the unit of course.

"Second, treat my subordinates with respect. They will likely teach you as much as I will. Some of them are a little eccentric. Some of them have secrets. You will keep your opinions to your selves and your mouths closed and follow their orders when asked." The three nodded.

"Third, you are attached to the ANBU unit. You will act and dress like one."

Sakura's hand shot up, her face a mask of confusion, "What do you mean by that, sensei? How do we dress like an ANBU? Do we need to go buy masks?"

Ibiki almost laughed at that. "Not quite, Sakura. You will follow a simple dress code. Dress in non-descript clothes. Wear nothing that sticks out, and nothing that will hamper you in a fight." He looked at Naruto, who glared sullenly back. "Orange is a horrible color for a ninja. I don't think I need to tell you why," and at Sakura, who blushed "You may aspire to be an elegant kunoichi in that dress, but you aren't one now. Dress sensibly. Your life may depend on it."

Ibiki rummaged through his desk for a few moments and pulled out a package that he hadn't opened for a long time. He stared at it for a moment, before reaching in and pulling out what was inside. "Also, you will all be required to wear one of these badges." He handed one to each of the genin. "These badges mark you as a member of this unit. They serve both as an identifier to allow you to enter the building, and as an emergency-tracking device. You may wear it openly or covertly, the choice is up to you." The three genin stared quizzically at the badges for a few seconds, and Ibiki was momentarily struck by the innocence of the three. They'd soon come to know what those badges meant.

"In addition, you will wear no symbol or family icon outside this badge and your forehead protector. This is to-" Ibiki began again, but was cut off by an angry shout from Sasuke.

"I absolutely refuse! The Uchiha crest is mine to wear! Nothing can make me take it off! I know for certain that ANBU members are allowed to wear their crests. How can you say that I can-" Sasuke, in turn was interrupted by Ibiki slamming his hand against his desk.

Ibiki was in no mood for argument. "My unit, my policies, boy! I run T&I my way! If you have a problem with that, I can file the transfer paperwork, right now!" He stared the brat down, until the boy dropped his gaze to the floor. The boy best learn to follow orders and not talk back right now. He'd expect that sort of response from Naruto, but the Uchiha should know better, despite the touchy subject.

"Continuing," He restarted mildly, "This is for a number of reasons, but the greatest of these is to help protect your identity. Members of Torture and Interrogation are highly prized by any enemy of this village. You will learn much here, some of it will be secret and highly dangerous. Protect yourselves and your identities, both for your sake and others." Naruto and Sasuke both nodded, while Sakura looked a little pale. It made sense. Sakura was the only one with family.

"The fourth rule is only for Naruto." Naruto glared at him sullenly and he seemed to be ready to argue, but recoiled back when all of a sudden Ibiki seemed begin to grow. His eyes appeared to sink back into his skull, and the scars on his face seemed to open and spew blood and pus anew. Light seemed to leach out of the room, until Naruto could only see Ibiki eyes, which had narrowed to pinpricks, but seemed to fill his vision. "Never prank my office again." And reality snapped back as Naruto tripped and fell backwards, to the great confusion and laughter of his teammates.

Ibiki watched them for a moment, as Naruto stumbled to his feet, and looked around wildly, to the great amusement of his teammates. He watched them talk to each other, laugh, and smile. He didn't know what it was about them. Iruka had sent them his way, and he wasn't sure why the chuunin had done so. Maybe it was pity, or possibly some ridiculous hope that the three would bring redemption. Whatever the reason, it was now his turn to watch over them. And hope they came out of this with their sanity intact.

* * *

It's finally out! It's late for a huge slew of reason, mostly due to the fact that I've been back at college and am buried in work. The next chapter will also likely take a while, though hopefully far less time. I don't have much hope though.

Another reason was that this chapter was a pain to write. It's entirely from Ibiki's perspective, which was not planned. There originally was going to be another section, but this got so long, I cut out some of the middle, and broke it into two scenes. This means that again, I have to add an additional chapter. Which is depressing. This story originally was supposed to be about 20 chapters long with each about 2000 words. Looking back, I was completely underestimating my ability to hugely expand small details.

I am still unsatisfied with this chapter, though. As it was written over such a long period of time, I'm not sure if Ibiki is consistent, though for as hard a person he is to write, he is fun. I'd appreciate anybody's and everybody's opinion on the consistency, and what, if anything, you liked about him.

The Sexy no Jutsu scene was actually inspired by a reviewer. Kudo's to you whoever you are. I hadn't even thought about pranking Ibiki with that technique, until it was suggested. It was the scene that gave me the most fits, but in the end it was worth it.

See ya next time, everybody!


	6. A Problem Meetings

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I have no intentions of profiting from this story.

Chapter 6 – A Problem/Meetings

It made a peculiar kind of cruel sense, at least to Ibiki, that the three kids – though they were genin, now, he supposed, and thus were adults by Leaf law – would somehow manage to bury him in paperwork, just by existing. It was karma for getting all of his paperwork done earlier, he supposed, as he worked his way through the assignment forms, the Treasury request to add three more salaried workers to the unit, the notice to the head of the ANBU informing her of the situation, and all the other assorted paperwork that taking on the team somehow required. He'd be lucky if he'd be done by morning. Jonin who were eager to have teams assigned often filled out such paperwork months in advance. Hell, it often took months to fill out the paperwork, or at least to see that it was properly filed. Ibiki had started filling his out an hour ago, and it needed to filed before morning. He wasn't happy.

Still, Ibiki found himself not minding too much for some reason. Sure the kids would be a bother and would even have to be trained every now and then. They'd probably stick their noses into things that they shouldn't see, or even object to some of the methods they used during an interrogation. In fact, a million reasons why they shouldn't be assigned to the unit had been running through his head since he'd been informed of the details three days ago. But even Ibiki was beginning to see the upsides as well. After all, his unit had been complaining about the number of menial tasks they had been performing lately. The genin offered a nice compact solution to the complaints. They could do the tasks the members found so bothersome, and give the complaining members something to do as well. He wasn't expecting the unit to be terribly happy about having to train the kids, but peacetime was terribly uneventful for the Torture and Interrogation Unit. It would offer a change in pace, if nothing else.

Maybe he could even teach them how to file paperwork. In fact, that was a terribly attractive idea. With the genin taking care of all the paperwork, he'd be free for more…useful tasks. He doubted that his superiors would appreciate his logic, but then again, why should he care? They might not even notice. After all, Ibiki had gotten his reputation for being unconventional for very good reasons.

Sighing, Ibiki dropped the requisition forms for three new desks and the use of the empty room down the hall. He stood and stretched, ignoring the unpleasant stretching across his face where the scars pulled his skintight. It was time to call a meeting and inform his subordinates of the new…members, he supposed he could call them. He rolled his eyes. He'd was willing to bet that he'd have the first complaint on his desk before the genin had even arrived. Or in his ear, for that matter.

Ibiki exited his office and moved down the hall towards Ejiki's office. He really had no desire to see the man at the moment, but as Ibiki's vice-captain and assisstant, he was the man to go to. The man's door, as always, was open, and Ibiki braced himself for the jokes that would inevitably be thrown his way as soon as he made his presence known. Ideally, he would get-in, get-out, and be back in his office before the man could even register he was there. At least he'd try. The man was a ninja after all, despite the fact that he spent more time filling out paperwork than in the field.

"Ejiki, staff meeting in twenty minutes. Get everybody together, they should still all be here." He said quickly. Even before he finished speaking, he was already moving back down the hall to his office.

Unfortunately, the man was still able to get off a reply before Ibiki could close the door. "Of course, sir! I will tell them that Lover-of-Blondes requests their attendance!" It irritated Ibiki even more that he could hear Ejiki's laughter even after he had slammed the door.

Muttering angrily under his breath, Ibiki turned towards his desk, only to be surprised in his own office for the second time in one day, a new record. Someone was sitting in his chair. Again. But this person had not chosen to hide herself, and he certainly knew who she was. That made him no less irritated, however. Mitarashi Anko should certainly have known better.

"Yo, Ibiki! Heard you got a genin team, of all things. Came down to get the info right from the source. And what was that idiot saying about you being a 'lover of blonds, neh? You always struck me as a sort of brunette guy." Said Anko, as always, almost shouting. The woman didn't know the meaning of the word quiet.

Of all the people that Ibiki wished to avoid dealing with at the moment, Anko nearly topped the list. He supposed she was here for revenge for his comments at the sentry post earlier. He probably even deserved it, but after all the humiliation he had suffered this afternoon, he had thought he had reached rock bottom. Apparently, it had been a false bottom; one that had shattered spectacularly and dropped him into uncharted territory. He wondered what exactly he had done that had caused him to deserve this.

"That is none of your business, Anko. Now get out of my chair." Ibiki snapped, as stern as he could manage.

Anko gave him a sultry smile, and languidly rose from her chair, strutted to the chair in front of his desk and plopped herself down on it. "Has that ever stopped me before, Ibiki? And didn't I tell you I'd be down to visit you later?" She put emphasis on the word visit, which Ibiki ignored with practiced ease. The girl was a notorious flirt, after all, despite actively cultivating a reputation as a man-eater.

Ibiki didn't even bother to consider an answer to the question. Quietly grumbling, he made his way over to his desk, checked it for surprises in case that Anko was feeling playful, then sat down and faced his guest.

"Did you really come all the way down her to annoy me, or did you actually have something important, for once?" said Ibiki, perhaps a little harsher than he meant to be.

For a second, the sultry smile stayed on the kunoichi's face and just as Ibiki started to feel worried, it dropped off, and the woman's whole demeanor changed. Gone was the she-vixen that Ibiki and just about everyone else usually saw, and what replaced it was a tired and slightly worried looking young woman. Ibiki was surprised. Anko seldom let down the mask she showed the rest of the world. That meant she really did have something serious to talk about. That worried Ibiki, though for an entirely different reason than before.

Mitarashi Anko held a very unusual position in both the village hierarchy and the ANBU. She was, like Ibiki, a special jonin and an extremely proficient ninja. But due to both her extensive knowledge of forbidden jutsu (which was either a huge asset or problem, depending on which village councilman you spoke to) and her status as Orochimaru's former pupil, she was seldom allowed to take missions outside the village. Which of course left the elders with a problem. Because, after all, one of the most dangerous things to a village in the world was a bored ninja. So the elders had assigned her to the ANBU, as a sort of special consultant. She belonged to all of the units, and none of them. All of the honor and none of the action. A quite dubious honor indeed. A fact that Anko knew quite well.

Ibiki had, on several occasions in the past, called upon the talents of the young kunoichi and, as a result, whether for good or bad, the young woman had picked up the habit of hanging around the offices of T&I. Due to both the woman's notoriety and personality, she had few friends, so Ibiki, having some understanding of the girl's situation, had not complained all too much. She kept the other member of the unit on their toes, after all. Not to mention the fact that she had the common sense not to prank his office.

He was regretting that now. A serious Anko meant serious problems, and Ibiki had more of those than he really cared to deal with at the moment. He sighed. "What is it, Anko? Be quick," he gestured to the pile of paperwork on his desk, "I need to finish this by morning."

The woman's eyes dropped to the ground for a second, and she seemed to be carefully considering her words. Ibiki was patient. The better she explained it the first time, the quicker she'd be out of his office and out of his hair, at least for the moment. At least that was what he hoped. Things involving Anko tended to become quite complicated in strange and bizarre ways. At worst, he could be up all night trying to fix whatever trouble she had gotten herself into.

"I…" she swallowed nervously, though her voice did not betray her anxiety, "…I have broken the Hokage's law."

Ibiki blinked. Not quite what he was expecting. "…Well, which one? There a quite a few of them, Anko."

A bit of her usual fire jumped back into her eyes as she sent him a withering glare. "Really? I hadn't noticed," She took another deep breath, "The one involving the kid on your new team…" Her eyes dropped to the floor, and she had the decency to look guilty.

Ibiki's mouth would have made an 'O' in understanding except that he had conquered the habit of doing that a long time ago. That law. That was a terribly important one. Not one that you could away with breaking or that could be ignored, even by a friend. The punishment for breaking that law was death. And not just any death, but the terribly painful kind that lasted for months. Ibiki knew that part quite well. He was the one who administered it.

"Tell me the details," Ibiki said calmly.

Her explanation was short, to the point, and if Morino Ibiki was any judge of people, accurate. Mitarashi Anko was the last person that Ibiki would expect to willingly or consciously break any of the Hokage's laws. The council's laws, maybe, and the city's laws for certain, but never the Hokage's laws. It had been a slip, nothing else. But both he and her knew that it was going to cost her.

"Well, the only good thing I have to say about that, Anko, is that it seems as if the other two either didn't catch it, or just didn't understand it. It seems at least you have dodged the bullet this time." Ibiki said sternly.

The kunoichi relaxed a little, but Ibiki could tell that she knew she sill wouldn't escape scot-free. "Still, breaking this law, above all others, is a capital offense. I should, for all intents and purposes, be escorting you to a cell. But, seeing as it is was an accident and no harm came from it, I shall be lenient. But this is your freebie, Anko. You only get one. No more stupid mistakes." Ibiki said with a sigh.

Anko let out a breath of relief and nodded. "I'll do whatever task you wish, Ibiki," she flashed him a sultry smile and winked at him, "Even the naughty ones."

Ibiki allowed himself to roll his eyes. "None of that Anko…Instead you will…" He wracked his brain for a quick solution. This needed to be a real punishment, but what kind would be bad enough to teach the kunoichi a lesson, while keeping her out of his hair for a while. After a moment's thought, the perfect solution popped into mind. And even better, it killed two birds with one stone, "…You will be relieved of all ANBU duties and reassigned to the Academy," the kunoichi made a protesting noise, which Ibiki silenced with a glare, "…And there you will work until I am satisfied that you have learned your lesson. You will work as a teaching assistant to…" He made a play of consulting papers and thinking for a moment, "…Yes, Umino Iruka will do."

It served the teacher right. He'd never know what hit him. The perfect revenge and the perfect punishment, all rolled into one neat little package. Ibiki smiled inside, and took a minute to exult in being evil, ignoring the loud complaints of the indignant kunoichi in front of him.

* * *

Sitting on a roof not far from the ANBU headquarters, Naruto wasn't quite sure what he had gotten himself into. The man Ibiki seemed to be a pretty scary guy. Not to mention that he really couldn't take a joke. That had been a rather harmless prank, at least in his experience. He hadn't destroyed anything, or even ruined the man's clothes. Some people were just stuffed shirts, he guessed.

Still the man seemed to be a good ninja. After all, he was an ANBU captain after all. And he had done that scary thing with his eyes. Naruto hoped that Ibiki-sensei could teach him that, if nothing else. No one would mess with him again, after seeing that. And suppose that was the least he could do? A man who specialized in torture and interrogation had to know lots of tricks and methods of fooling people didn't he? Naruto felt a shiver of pleasure run down his back thinking about how awesome his pranks would become in the months to come. He'd already come up with a couple new ones using his new Shadow Clone Technique, and things would hopefully only get better.

It was too bad that he was stuck with Sasuke. If it had been anyone else, or even better, just him and Sakura, things would be so much better. Sakura would get all the attention she needed, and he'd learn like he always did, watching in the background and picking up what he could. Personal attention was, as always, not to be expected, though he doubted Ibiki-sensei could ignore him all the time like the academy teachers always had. There were only three of them, after all.

It was even worse that they weren't going to be able to take missions. Naruto certainly understood the logic behind what Ibiki-sensei had said, but it didn't make him happy. After all, where else was a ninja supposed to practice and refine his skills, if not during missions? Training would only take them so far, even Naruto knew that. He'd quickly fall behind all the other genin in his year, and decrease his already small chances of becoming Hokage. Though admittedly, Naruto didn't really care about odds. He tended to rely on things like stubbornness and determination. They'd gotten him this far.

They'd have to work overtime, though, to get him through Ibiki-sensei's training. The man appeared merciless. Naruto wondered whether he had been that way before the job, or it had come after the man had taken the job. After a moment's consideration, he came to the conclusion that it was probably the latter. Just looking at the man gave the clue. Naruto knew far too well that despite the physical scarring, the mental scarring was always worse. And Ibiki-sensei looked pretty bad already.

The rules were a bit of a bummer, though. Well, a couple of them were. All right, it was the no-prank that irritated Naruto to no end. He didn't like sparing people. If you spared one, you'd inevitably spare others. And Ibiki's reaction to the Ninja Centerfold had been priceless. It was a bit insulting that the man had thought it had been a prank by someone else, but in the end it had been even funnier than he had hopped. Even Sasuke had laughed, which was an unfortunate first.

Frowning again, Naruto considered Sasuke's reaction to the rule involving the badges. What had been his problem? It was just a shirt with a symbol on it. It wasn't that wearing his clan crest made him any more of a ninja. He could take just as much pride (though in Naruto's opinion he could take a great deal less and still be fine) in his family name without wearing the stupid thing. A fan wasn't exactly the most imposing thing in the world, anyway. Maybe in addition to not wearing his family crest, Sasuke could just order a new one. One that made him look less like an arrogant prick. Maybe a puppy. Or a sunflower or something. Something cheerful.

Speaking of badges and family crests, Ibiki-sensei had handed each of them one during their meeting. It had been kind of weird. Sensei had gotten a weird expression on his face when he had passed them out, though it had come and go so fast, that Naruto wasn't sure that he had seen it. It had certainly been strange to see the stoic man slip a little. Maybe the badges were ugly, and he was embarrassed. Or maybe he had designed them himself and didn't like to see others to see them. Of course, Naruto thought that both of those ideas were a little weird. Ibiki-sensei didn't look like the artsy type, after all.

Naruto reached into his pocket, pulled out the badge, and scrutinized it carefully. It wasn't the most impressive piece of artwork in the world, and it smelled funny, as if it had been made a good while ago. It was a really simple design, too, which struck Naruto as a little strange. In his experience, ANBU units had always seemed terribly proud of their crests. They were often terribly elaborate pieces of work, created by artists of amazing talent. This one could have been drawn up by a kindergartener.

It was a dark blue rectangular badge with the Leaf symbol in gold colored thread in the middle. Two broad red lines stretched from corner to corner, creating something that looked like an X on the badge. In the middle of the red lines, were black ones that didn't start entirely at the edge, but created another X. As a whole it looked sort of like the Leaf symbol was being crossed out by two X's, one red and one black.

Naruto thought it looked kind of ugly. Of course, this was the badge for the Torture and Interrogation unit. It wasn't as if they did work that one could call pretty by any stretch of the definition. He wondered if it meant anything. It probably did, and maybe from the strange expression on Ibiki's face, it wasn't exactly pleasant. Naruto made a note to avoid finding out. He was poor enough that he couldn't risk losing a lunch like that. Anything that could make that man flinch might be enough to make a normal person like him go insane.

Shaking off that thought, Naruto stood up and dusted off his pants. It was late, but this was a town of ninja, and some places just never slept. It was time to do something that he avoided whenever possible. Something that he loathed to the core of his being and would curse with his last breath. Screw Ibiki-sensei, and his rules!

It was time to go shopping.

* * *

Ibiki sneezed and looked up from his doodling as he sat impatiently in the T&I's small meeting room. It was exactly two minutes after his set meeting time, and he was the only one there. Admittedly, he had arrived exactly on time, instead of his usual 5 minutes beforehand, due to the trouble with Anko. Honestly, the woman had wanted to stay and chat. With him of all people. He had to shoo her out of his office with less than thirty seconds to go until the meeting. He had practically had to sprint to make sure he was there on time. The last time he had been late, he hadn't heard the end of it for weeks.

It turned out that he shouldn't have worried. No one was there, not even Ejiki, who, as his assistant, was required to be present. So Ibiki sat down to wait. They would show up. It wasn't as if any of them really had other things to do anyway. Ryoushi wasn't in charge of his family's training this month, and despite what she always bragged, Itami hadn't had a date in six months since the last guy had somehow ended up sticking out of the Hokage's monument. Enjintou and the Lovebirds actually lived in their offices, so they never had an excuse for missing staff meetings.

So, Ibiki went back to work on his doodling, and tried to hold in his growing impatience. Anger wasn't the proper way to deal with one's underlings, after all. It made them unwilling to do work. But perhaps a little punishment wouldn't be a bad idea. After all, they were keeping him from his paperwork…or maybe not. Today had been a long day, and the meeting with Anko had pretty much drained him of what deviousness and subterfuge he had left. The woman had that effect on everyone.

Five minutes later, Itami and Ryoushi walked in the door, the man's huge frame dwarfing the short woman. They both looked tired, and Ibiki noticed both were in scrubs. Rather bloody scrubs. Perhaps they had a reason for being late. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"You know, calling a staff meeting while there's an active interrogation is bloody shoddy way of running things, Ibiki," said Itami in her rough, gravelly voice. Still, even after several years, Ibiki was still surprised by the contrast between what Itami's voice and her appearance. She was a stunning woman by anyone's standard's, though a little on the short side, with long black hair and piercing blue eyes. Her voice…made fingernails on a chalkboard sound pleasant. Though there was an explanation for that, as there were for just about everything in T&I.

Ibiki's brow creased in thought, as he tried to remember exactly what the woman was talking about. It had been three months since they had last brought in a…boarder. The man had tried defecting to the Rain village, but had proved so useless to the small village that they had turned the man over without a complaint when the Hunter-nin squad had arrived. After two weeks, the man had walked out the door and had faced his execution without a whimper, which had been quite admirable. Of course, by then, the man's vocal cords had been removed, so that really wasn't terribly surprising.

"Oh, were you working on that chuunin that the police force brought in? The teacher charged with treason? Mizuki wasn't it?" Ibiki asked, remembering at last. The man had been brought in yesterday by the Hokage's own personal guard, horribly beat up, and he hadn't asked any questions.

"Yeah, man's got a bloody lot to say about the Fox-brat, none of it polite," Ibiki coughed at that, trying to suppress a laughed, and Itami gave him a dirty look, "Hasn't said anything else yet either, and I don't know if he will. Seems to be just another scumbag with a grudge to me. I'm going to head over to the Guardsmen's offices tomorrow and ask for some more details, just in case."

Ibiki nodded and turned to Ryoushi, "You have the same opinion?"

The large man shrugged. "He's a common scumbag alright, but I'm not sure if that's everything. Seems to me as if he might have been keeping something back."

Itami scowled and elbowed the man sharply in the ribs, which only served to spread the blood that covered them both of them. "Which is the reason I'm going to bloody ask, Brine-breath!" Both Ibiki and Ryoushi rolled their eyes.

"Aww, little Itami has gone all defensive, again. Isn't she cute, Ibiki?" said Ejiki from the door, as the man slipped inside.

Itami's glare moved with startling speed from Ryoushi to Ejiki, who shrugged it off just as easily as the other man had. The man could shrug off a glare from a dragon; Itami wasn't even on his radar. Ibiki wondered for the near millionth time how the man built up immunity to that sort of thing. The man's family had to be crazy. Entirely possible, as they were reportedly all ninja.

"No arguing at the staff meeting, please. At least, no arguing on pointless topics." He said, knowing full well, that it would probably be ignored.

"He's bloody insulted me, Ibiki! How can I back down?" retorted Itami, seemingly ready to work herself into a righteous rage.

"Because I said so. We have things to discuss, and I have things to finish after this meeting." said Ibiki, at his calmest. Which, to his few enemies that still survived, meant he was at his deadliest. Something his staff knew just as well. He was not in the mood for Itami's and Ejiki's petty arguments at the moment.

Itami huffed angrily, but plopped down in a chair about halfway down the table, leaning in the chair back far enough to almost fall over. Ryoushi shrugged and sat in the next seat down, folding his hand carefully on the table and studying the blank wall in front of him. Ejiki bounced over to the table, and sat in the chair next to Ibiki with a loud thump before turning to the other two and opening his mouth. "Guess what happened to Ibiki to-" He was interrupted by his forehead abruptly making contact with the table, courtesy of Ibiki's hand on the back of his head.

"None of that," Ibiki said quickly, ignoring the raised eyebrows from the other two members. Ejiki rubbed his forehead gingerly and pouted, but winked at the other two. "I'll tell you later. It'll crack you up."

Thankfully Ibiki was saved the almost inevitable prying questions by the arrival of last three permanent members of his unit. Enjintou and the Lovebirds entered together, each holding a take-out container from the small restaurant down the street. Enjintou's small, slim frame was almost shaking as he bowed to Ibiki. "I-I-I…a-a-apologize for our l-l-lateness C-c-captain Morino. The line was l-l-long." He looked nervously around the room.

Ibiki sighed. The man could be terribly troublesome at times "It's fine, Enjintou, I'm sure you did your best to get here on time."

The man still stood there nervously, looking almost piteously at Ibiki, who had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. "You're forgiven, Enjintou." The tension drained out of the jittery man as he bowed deeply, and he scurried to his seat beside Ejiki.

The Lovebirds had sat unconcernedly in their usual seats beside Itami, with **Iriyou** sitting in Seidou's lap as always. The Lovebirds were a strange pair. Technically it was against regulations to show public displays affection while at work, but like a number of other regulations, Ibiki ignored it. It was also against regulations to be romantically involved with a fellow ANBU member, but with the Lovebirds, it was both of them, or neither of them. It might have had something to do with the fact that they were seldom more than 2 feet from each other.

Ibiki took a moment to put his thoughts together, and let his subordinates' small talk wash over him. They were a good group. Not the greatest collection of minds and talent in the business, but the Leaf village wasn't terribly interested in having that title. That was better left to the Stone or Mist villages, which had little to go for them, except their reputation for savagery. But his unit could handle just about any job thrown their way, though those they did pull were few and far between. He wasn't sure they could handle this one, though. It might be beyond all of them, in fact.

"All right, T&I. Let's get started," Ibiki said quietly, and noticed with a brief smile that everyone except Ejiki sat a little straighter in their seats. "Since we're all here, we might as well use the time constructively. Reports?"

Ejiki leaned forward, bouncing in his seat, "Been working on the new paperwork we got in today, Boss. We should finish it by the time its due in the morning, but we're both in for a long night. Thankfully, I have some wonderful memories from this afternoon to keep me entertained. S'all for me." Ejiki winked, giggled, and slouched back into his chair. Ibiki rolled his eyes, and ignored the man's baiting and the questioning stair from his other subordinates.

Itami leaned forward and began to give her report. In contrast to earlier, she sounded quite professional, and even managed not to swear. "Ryoushi and I began interrogating Inmate 987B3, whose charges included treason and two counts of attempted murder, though we haven't been informed of the identities of the intended victims. When the inmate refused to answer when simply questioned, we marked him as hostile, uncommunicative, and posing a possible danger to the village. Under Article 13, we then began a formal interrogation. Unfortunately before we finished, we were called to this meeting. Bastard." She sat back in her chair, and Ibiki ignored the remark.

Ryoushi then began to speak, "What my erstwhile comrade didn't say is that either the inmate had nothing to hide, or has proven highly resistant to our methods so far. We'll continue the interrogation tomorrow, after we investigate into the inmate's crimes a little more. If he continues to say nothing after a few more days, we'll turn him over to the police for prosecution. They've apparently got enough eyewitnesses to convict him anyway."

Itami leaned forward again with a gleam in her eye and interrupted the large man, "Though, I overheard something when the ANBU brought him in. They were muttering something about the man being on the fast track to life in prison. Maybe not even a trial. They weren't too happy about it either, and thought the guy was getting off easy. They were definitely muttering about how easily the man could have had…an accident on the way here. Whatever the guy did, he pissed off the guys in the Bodyguard Unit and has even got the Hokage angry, if what I heard was right."

Everyone at the table exchange glances, and almost as one, shrugged. "Well, then," said Ibiki, "Find out what he's done. If it's as bad as they make it out to be…you can begin," He paused and allowed a dark smile to creep onto his face, " …invasive interrogation. Just don't kill the man." Itami smiled, and Ryoushi nodded. There was no mercy for traitors. Not from T&I. Especially if the Hokage was inclined to look the other way.

Then it was Enjintou's turn and Ibiki noticed, that, as always, the man sat stiff in his chair and had sweat pouring down his face. The nervous man really hated speaking in public. Hell, he hated speaking in general. And to throw in one more, people as well. "W-w-w-ell today I f-f-filled out the p-p-p-p-paperwork for the new int-int-interrogation room that we're planning on a-a-adding. Th-th-the contractor stopped b-b-b-buy and gave his estimate for the c-c-c-cost of the renovation. I-I-I-Its within our budget l-l-limit." The man gave an audible sigh of relief and huddled back in his chair.

Ibiki nodded and turned to the Lovebirds, who were in the middle of a rather passionate make-out session. Ibiki rolled his eyes, and waited for them to finish. With a collective sigh from the two of them, Iriyou repositioned himself on Seidou's lap and began his report in his almost offensively high-pitched voice. "Well, today me and Seidou had a great time! We spent most of the day at the Hokage's Tower, pulling up mission records, and every now and then, stopping for some…recreation. We got most of the records you requested, but the archivist wouldn't let us take out a few of them. We did anyway, and they're on the table in your office."

Ibiki nodded with a slight smile, and shuffled his notes a bit to give himself a moment to gather his thoughts. They wouldn't be happy about this, he knew. He certainly wasn't, but an order was an order. They would be hard on the kids, but hopefully they would at least act with some restraint. Itami and Enjintou were the two that he was really worried about, but still he hoped they'd learn to deal with it. If they didn't, he'd quickly have a bloody mess on his hands.

"Alright, T&I, good work. I know things have been really quiet recently and you've been doing jobs far simpler than your talents deserve, but things will be changing soon," Almost as one, the entire room leaned forward, except Enjintou, who curled into a tighter ball in his seat, "T&I has received a new mission. Long term."

There wasn't a cheer or clapping, but a tension that had been barely noticeable, even to Ibiki suddenly flowed out of the room, and there were predatory smiles on more than one face. Ibiki was suddenly irritated at himself. He had gotten their hopes up, and their blood pumping. They were now ready to go out and do what they did best. And now he'd have to shatter that illusion.

"Unfortunately," Ibiki noticed the tension return to the room with just that one word, "it isn't the normal type of mission for T&I. In fact, for all of us, it'll be a completely new experience."

He paused to breathe and to carefully consider his next words, but was interrupted by Itami. "Stop beating around the bloody bush, already, Ibiki. Spill it." She rolled her eyes and sat back hard in her chair.

Ibiki almost laughed. "Alright then, Itami, I'll give it to you all straight. Due to an…ah…bureaucratic error, T&I has been assigned to train a genin team." If Ibiki had been the type, he would have closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable explosion. Since he wasn't he merely waited stoically, staring straight ahead at the wall in front of him, as the various members of T&I attempted to process his last statement

After a moment, the expected explosion of noise occurred. Itami was on her feet, screaming something at no one in particular. Ejiki had somehow managed to fall out of his chair and was rolling on the ground laughing. Enjintou was gibbering something at no one in particular, and the Lovebirds seemed to be discussing it rather calmly between themselves. Only Ryoushi seemed to take the news with any sort of poise. But Ryoushi would probably take the news of the world ending in the next five minutes with the same amount of reserve.

Ibiki let the noise continue for a moment to allow them to get it out of their system, and then with one broad sweep of his arm, silenced them. All their faces were riveted on him with a number of different expressions, from anger, to eagerness, to complete apathy. "Any questions?"

Itami looked as if she was ready to start spitting nails, but Ryoushi surprised both her and Ibiki when he spoke up first, his face thoughtful. "Did the genin pass the test?"

This question seemed to catch the rest of the room off guard, and Ibiki let them think about it for a moment before answering. Ibiki was known to all as a terribly harsh taskmaster. The likelihood of a genin team passing his test would have to be ridiculously small. If a team had passed, it likely meant that they had to be special in some way. Even to ninja like Itami, the prospect of training a team like that had to be terribly attractive.

Ibiki let a smile climb on to his face, though he himself still wasn't terribly fond of the idea of training the team, "With flying colors. Outsmarted even me."

Ejiki giggled at the latter remark, but the rest of the room considered the information with utmost seriousness. Ryoushi closed his eyes in thought for a moment, and then nodded, apparently to himself. "When do they begin their training here?" said the large man once again.

"Tomorrow morning. Ejiki and I are rushing through the final paperwork tonight." Ibiki replied.

There was some muttering around the room at that remark, and even Ryoushi raised an eyebrow. "That sudden? Why weren't we given a little more warning? That sort of thing generally takes months of processing."

Ibiki shrugged. "As I said, a bureaucratic mix-up." Not a lie, but not completely the truth, either.

Ryoushi nodded in apparent acceptance of that excuse, and thought for a moment, with the rest of T&I watching and waiting for his reply. He finally slouched back in his chair and shrugged. "If you are for it, Captain, then I have no problem."

One by one, each member of T&I nodded agreement, even Itami, who scowled and did so only reluctantly. Ibiki let himself have a little internal sigh of relief. To tell the truth, it wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't agreed. The genin had been assigned by order of the Hokage, after all. It certainly made things much easier, though, both for the genin and Ibiki. He'd peaked his subordinates' interest in the genin; now if only they'd fulfill the expectations he'd just set for them, everything would work out smoothly.

Too bad Ibiki never expected things to run smoothly. It was one of the reasons that he was alive, and many other stronger ninjas were dead or worse.

"Alright then, for now, we'll split them up and do some individual work with each. I want a realisitic assessment of each of their potential, and a training regieme planned out for each of them by the end of the week. I'll pass out my collected impressions on each of them, as well a summary of what their records reveal about them. Itami, you'll be taking Haruno Sakura," she opened her mouth to protest it, but closed it when she saw Ibiki's glare, "Ejiki, you'll take the Uchiha. Try to be serious for once, eh? Kid won't take to your jokes as well as I do," the man stuck his tongue out and Ibiki rolled his eyes. "Ryoushi, you'll take Uzumaki Naruto."

As expected, as soon as he spoke the name, the room plunged into silence. The members of T&I exchanged glances with each other, and Ibiki almost held his breath. He didn't believe that any in his unit had a grudge against the boy, but it was hard to tell with some people. Especially ninjas. He was surprised, however when Itami was the first to speak up. "This team's got the bloody Fox-brat on it?"

Ibiki nodded, and waited for the reaction. It wasn't anything that he expected. Itami suddenly burst into laughter, and pounded on the desk. He watched her quizzically for a moment, before she recovered. Wiping her eyes, she spoke, sounded far more amused than Ibiki had ever heard her. "Should've bloody said that before. Makes things that much more interesting."

The rest of the room seemed to stare at the woman for a second, then as one, shrugged, and Ibiki relaxed. Maybe this would work out, after all. "Alright, then. T&I, this meeting is adjourned. Let's get ready to greet our new genin."

* * *

It's been a while, hasn't it. --;;;;; I'm sorry, everyone. I've been writing stuff, just not this. This was a totally unacceptable break, and I do apologize for it. I can't promise that another will come soon, but I can promise that there will be another. --;;; I've got lots of things to work on sadly, and at my speed, it takes about a century and a half to get them done. Yet again, I apologize.

Bah, Chapter comments. I'm not terribly fond of this chapter. It largely (again) is set-up for events later on, and an introduction to all of the main author created characters. I haven't quite pinned down all of their personalities yet to the degree that will be necessary, but hopefully, if nothing else, they'll be interesting. Though, I definitely don't want to overuse them. Trying to find more methods of bringing canon characters into the story without being too overly cliché.

Next chapter will be the genin's first day at T&I, and hopefully I can actually squish all the events I want to have there into one chapter so things can get moving. --;;;;

Thanks once again for all your thoughts and reviews!


	7. Beginnings The Message

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I have no intentions of profiting from this story.

Chapter 7: Beginnings/The Message

It was terribly irritating to wake up early. It was also terribly irritating to wake up early and realize that she had absolutely no clue what to wear. Those were the thoughts of Sakura Haruno as she stared irritably at her closet. This wasn't normally a problem. Her wardrobe was chosen with the greatest care. However, none of the carefully bought clothes and painstaking-matched outfits would work. She'd chose them for one goal and one goal only. To win Sasuke. And now they were (for the moment) completely and utterly useless.

Well, not useless for winning Sasuke. They could probably still be used for that, but she was willing to bet that if she showed up in any of the dresses, even one of the ones meant for beautiful and elegant kunoichi, she'd likely get a scolding from Ibiki-sensei. Especially considering he'd told her explicitly not to wear them. Disobeying an order like that on the first day was not a good way to get on the instructor's good side. And she desperately wanted to be on Ibiki-sensei's good side. It was probably safer that way.

Still that left Sakura with few options and she was running out of time. After a few more desperate moments, she settled for something simple. A pair of khaki knee-length shorts and a muted red shirt. She had found both shoved in the back of one of her drawers. They had probably been an unwanted gift from some relative. She could work on the attractiveness issue later. Being on time today was more important.

Stopping by the mirror on the way out of her room, she was faced with another brief dilemma. Make-up or no make-up? Ibiki-sensei had said to dress sensibly. Was make-up considered part of that? Normally she wouldn't hesitate in saying yes, but she knew that make-up could run and maybe in a worst case scenario maybe get in her eyes. But was it likely that that would happen today? And what about her hair? She knew that long, loose hair definitely wasn't 'sensible' for a ninja. But she didn't have time to do anything complex with it to get out of the way. And cutting it was simply out of the question. In the end she settled for a light coat of lipstick and a pony tail. She'd figure out something better in the evening.

Finally dressed in a fashion that she was sure Ibiki-sensei wouldn't complain about too much, she ran quickly down the stairs, grabbed a piece of toast from the waiting plate, said good-bye to her amused looking parents, and ran out the door. Her mother would certainly ask about the change in wardrobe later, she was certain, and her father would want to hear all about her first day as a real genin, but she had no time for that this morning. She was late already; questions would make her later.

She sprinted through town towards the ANBU headquarters, and double-checked that the badge Ibiki-sensei had given them was securely attached to the underside of her forehead protector. Ibiki's words about people coming after members of the T&I Unit had worried her. She hadn't talked to her parents about it, yet. She had come home late the night before, and hadn't really felt like talking. She was sure her father would understand, he was a ninja, albeit one on inactive mission status. However, she wasn't sure how her mother would take it. She had been against Sakura becoming a ninja at all. Her reaction to where she had been assigned and who her jonin-sensei was not something Sakura was looking forward to.

Pushing those depressing thought aside, she skidded to a stop in front of the ANBU building. To her surprise, both Sasuke and Naruto were waiting there for her. Neither of them looked pleased with the other's company, and to be honest, Sasuke looked to be even angrier than normal. She assumed it was because of his clothing. He had probably been even harder pressed than her to find a change in wardrobe. She didn't think he owned a single pair of clothes without the Uchiha crest on it. It looked as if he had settled for wearing one of his normal shirts inside-out. She wanted to be irritated at Ibiki-sensei for making him look ridiculous, but compared to her own pressing wardrobe emergency, Sasuke's problem was a small matter. Turning a skirt inside out wouldn't do much for her.

Naruto, surprisingly enough, was impeccably dressed. Well, for a ninja at least. He was dressed in a shirt of muted greens and grays that looked as if it could pass for both casual wear and camouflage. His pants were a similar, but not exactly the same grayish color as part of the shirt, and he had added some kind of green-patterned bandana around his neck. It was a good look for a ninja, though certainly not a look that anyone expected of Naruto. She didn't think he owned anything that didn't have orange.

"Fox! Where in the world did you get those clothes?" she demanded, as soon as she had caught her breath.

He started at the nickname for a moment, but soon covered it with an expression that was equal parts pride and embarrassment. "Iruka-ni…-sensei helped me pick it out last night. He took me to a shop that's open all night. Ninja can be ordered to go anywhere anytime, you know? So it's open for that sort of stuff. Emergencies, last minute missions. He even got the lady working there to give me a good price."

Sakura stared consideringly at Naruto for a moment. There was something incomplete about his story. His expression was too happy and satisfied for a story as simple as that. She knew Iruka-sensei and Naruto were close, but their seemed to have been a weird slip-up involving the man's name. However, before she could press him for details, Sasuke pushed roughly past Naruto into the building, and both Naruto and Sakura scrambled to follow him.

There was no receptionist waiting at the desk that early in the morning, so they went directly to the entrance and quickly entered the ANBU facility. Since Sasuke seemed even moodier than normal, Sakura didn't press Naruto for details during the entire trip down to the basement. Sasuke had taken the lead, with his hands in his pockets and a scowl on his face. Maybe he was irritated that Naruto had shown him up? No, that couldn't be it; Naruto couldn't show up Sasuke given a thousand-year head start. Though he certainly looked far more impressive and..Well, ninja-like.

They reached Ibiki-sensei's office with little trouble. Despite being a 24-hour occupation, the ANBU apparently liked to sleep in as much as the next person. They had passed no one in the halls, and almost all of the offices were still dark. Those that weren't had occupants who looked like they hadn't left at all. Sakura expected…well, something more ninja-like, instead of the office building type feel. Which was kind of silly, considering that they were technically in an office building in the middle of downtown Konoha. The day before, Naruto had said things were different in the upper floors, at least in how they looked and were laid out, but things just seemed…well, too normal.

Ibiki-sensei wasn't in when they knocked on the door, but as he had informed them that he might not be, they weren't too worried. He had been muttering despairingly about some sort of late paperwork he had to turn in when they had been allowed to leave. It was kind of strange. Sakura had gotten the impression that Ibiki-sensei was generally quite organized. She supposed even the most organized people had to forget paperwork some times.

In any case, Ibiki-sensei had instructed them to wait in the meeting room down the hall if he wasn't in. Someone would eventually come to pick them up. So the three genin walked down the hallway past more dark offices, and into the designated room. Sasuke quickly took a seat near the corner and because to cutely brood. She didn't know if he purposely chose that spot so the light hit his face just so, but it did set off his darkened features quite well. She even had to restrain a love-struck sigh. Naruto grabbed a seat by the door, and for once didn't burst out into irritated babbling. He just sat there, staring at nothing, smiling to himself.

Sakura didn't quite know what to do with herself. Sitting near Sasuke, as much as she would like to, would likely set him off, considering his mood this morning. Sitting near Naruto wasn't even really to be considered. But she really didn't want to sit by herself either. She wouldn't admit it to either of them, but she was nervous, and perhaps still a little bit frightened. Well, maybe not just a little bit. She knew what to expect of being a genin. It was well documented and had been taught since they had entered the academy. This didn't match up with any of what she had read and observed. With a slight sigh, she settled for a seat in between the two, and tucked her head into her arms.

Thankfully, they didn't have much of a wait this time. After about ten minutes, there was a knock on the door, and two figures entered. The first was tall. Very tall. Tall, like had to bend almost half-over to even fit through the door. Then she saw the figure's face, and she forgot all about there even being a second person.

The only thing she could really think about as she stared at the face was blue. The man's (for he certainly was a man) skin was blue. Blue. Not like the sky, but sort of like clear water when the sun hit it just right. That kind of blue. There were other things off about his head and face, as well. His eyes looked wrong, and there were strange lines near his cheekbones, but both of those were very small things beside the fact that he was blue.

Sakura was still attempting to get past that fact, when Naruto, who didn't seem nearly as affected as her, opened his mouth and said something so bizarre, that it shocked her out of her…well, shock. The fact that it was true made it all the more bizarre.

"Dude, you kinda look like a fish." Naruto said, almost conversationally.

The man blinked for a moment, before stepping aside from the door to let the other figure in. After the other one seated himself, the large blue man calmly replied, "I've been told that before."

Naruto nodded, seemingly accepting this answer as something completely and utterly normal. The matter had been brought to attention, and now that the man had replied, his curiosity had been satisfied. Sakura might have pursued that thought with a bit more brainpower if she still hadn't been stuck on the blue thing. Sasuke hadn't said a thing, and had, in fact, barely reacted at all. She was left wondering if she was the abnormal one for thinking a tall blue man who did in fact look something like a fish was something strange and perhaps even panic worthy.

The man sat down next to the other figure, and they had a quick, almost silent conversation. Sakura's slowly recovering brain finally processed that the other figure was also male and was certainly not blue. In fact he looked terribly average. He was short, brown-haired, and wore glasses. He had extremely nervous eyes that whipped back and forth almost constantly from one side of the room to other, as if he was expecting an attack almost any minute. He was also wearing a Mist forehead protector, which set off a number of bells and whistles in her head.

However, Naruto once again beat her to the punch. "Hey, what's a ninja from the Mist village doing in the ANBU headquarters. That's kind of illegal." And punishable by death, but Sakura didn't see the need to add that to the conversation.

The blue man shot Naruto an unreadable look, and then looked back at the smaller man and sighed. "Enjintou," he said kindly, "You put on the wrong forehead protector this morning, again. I warned you about that last week."

The smaller man's eyes went wide, and he frantically brought his hands up to his head and felt the protector in an almost comical fashion, if it hadn't looked so desperate. Then his eyes dropped to the floor. It looked almost like he was about to cry or maybe try to sink into the floor in shame. "I-I-I-I'm s-s-sorry, Ryoushi. I f-f-forgot a-again…"

"I told you to put it away somewhere safe, Enjintou. A mistake like that could be deadly. You could be accidentally killed. You know that some in the village aren't as happy to have us as the rest. And some families have very long memories. No need to make yourself a target." The blue man –Ryoushi, the other man called him, she noted distractedly- lectured kindly.

The nervous man nodded silently, stood up, and walked out the door without another look behind him. The taller man watched him go silently, and stared at the door consideringly for a few moments before turning back to deal with them. He looked over each of them carefully, taking his time to evaluate each of them separately. To Sakura this sort of examination was getting a bit old. Ibiki-sensei had taken his time to evaluate them as well. They had stood in his office for almost fifteen minutes while he had just looked at them. What exactly did these experienced ninja look at when they just stared like that?

Naruto, however, seemed to have other ideas about where things should be going. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. He had been surprisingly quick-witted this morning. His eyes hadn't left the door since the other man had left and he had been chewing his lower lip, obviously thinking something over. She shifted her attention to Sasuke, who sat calmly in his chair staring at nothing. But she noticed his eyes drift more than occasionally towards both Ryoushi and the door.

"So, what's a Mist-nin doing here? Why isn't this place swarming with the spy-catchers?" asked Naruto suspiciously, bringing his hand almost casually down to his side. Her eyes widened. He was fingering his kunai! Was he considering taking on the ninja? He was almost three times Naruto's size and who knew how skilled. The man might be able to slice them all into pieces before they could blink, for goodness sake!

The man snorted. "Take your hand from your knives, boy. You probably would hurt yourself before you could hurt me," When Naruto's face darkened and his hand clenched, the man waved away the insult, "Do not worry, consider that a statement of my skill more than a critique of yours. Now, then, to answer your question, because undoubtedly it would come up later and cause trouble in some fashion. Enjintou is not a Mist-nin. He is a Leaf-nin like you."

"Then why does he have a Mist forehead protector?" asked Sasuke, speaking for the first time all morning. He sounded grumpy, but curious.

The man continued his speech as if Sasuke had never interrupted. She almost interrupted on principle to defend him, but the man's strangeness discouraged her. She didn't want to get such a huge man angry. Especially since he was blue. "Both he and I are defectors from the Mist-village. We are former Mist-nin. The village of Konoha welcomed us with open arms, thus we are here. Any other questions on the subject will have to wait for a better time or perhaps will never happen at all. I don't have to explain myself to a new genin, and neither does Enjintou."

The room went quiet after that small revelation. Naruto and Sasuke appeared to be deep in thought. Sakura herself wasn't that far behind. She knew in principle that ninja defected to other villages all the time. After all, being a ninja was not a job that encouraged happiness, satisfaction, or even mental stability. Anything from dissatisfaction with a job, avoiding punishment (of which ninja were often subjected too, whether from being too lenient or too harsh, being seen or moving unseen when the opposite should be done; punishable offense for ninjas were more common than ninja's themselves), or even just the whim of some unstable ninja could result in a defection or simply becoming a missing-nin.

But in the same vein, just as it was a relatively common thing for them defect, it was an uncommon thing for ninja to talk about. After all, ninja wanted to believe their coworkers were reliable just like everyone else. It was in no ones interest, except perhaps those of the counter-intelligence unit to know the backgrounds or mental states of a fellow ninja. Large families with many ninja were especially well known for avoiding the subject. All of them had at least one bad apple that had gone rogue and had tried with varying degrees of success to defect or just leave the village. She did her best not to look at Sasuke; his brother was perhaps the most infamous of them to succeed.

"Now that that impolite topic has been taken care of, my name is Hoshigaki Ryoushi. I am not a torture or interrogation specialist like many of the other ninja of this unit. I am a…field specialist, I suppose you could call me. I'm here to provide muscle, essentially."

"And you're here talking to us, why?" Sasuke demanded bluntly.

Ryoushi eyed Sasuke with something like irritation and Sakura had to fight the strange urge to scoot a little further away from her crush, "A little politeness goes a long way, young Uchiha. Not to mention patience," he sighed, "Children these days…Anyway, I am here for two reasons. First, to inform you that Captain Morino will be late arriving this morning. However, you have been put in the charges of certain T&I members. They will be arriving to pick you up, though unfortunately at their own leisure."

"And the second reason?" Naruto asked curiously.

"You," He said pleasantly.

There was a moment of silence as the three genin contemplated that remark in abject confusion. This conversation had already become more complicated than the three had ever expected. Naruto once again spoke for the three of them.

"Huh?" He said slowly, "Whadaya mean by that?"

"Did you miss what I said before? You should pay careful attention to what a superior says. During a mission they may have vital information that will help you succeed. Thus listening is always the first skill a ninja should cultivate." The man lectured.

The genin stared at him as if he had grown a second head. Sakura understood every single word he said, but somehow his message still wasn't getting across. She would have normally felt bad about it, but as the other two were clearly have the same trouble, she didn't feel too bad. Why couldn't the man just be straightforward? Fore-head protectors, defectors, Ibiki-sensei being late, trainers, listening; the man was jumping topics like mad. It was hard to keep up.

After a few moments of protracted silence, the man took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. Then he began to slowly speak, as if addressing a group of unruly three year olds "I am the man assigned to oversee Uzumaki Naruto. I have come to pick him up and administer training."

Sakura blinked and then felt stupid. Sasuke looked irritated and Naruto just looked confused. The man sighed again and stood up, "Come on, boy. We have a lot of work to do this morning."

With that, he turned and walked out the door. Sakura exchanged glances with both of her teammates, and after a few seconds Naruto shrugged and followed the man out the door.

Sakura sighed and leaned her head on the table, for once not having to worry about ruining her hair by doing so. She carefully went over the conversation that had just occurred. There had been a surprising amount of detail in it. She wondered at that. Despite leaving them completely confused, Ryoushi had been surprisingly candid with them.

Of course, the most important thing about the entire conversation was the knowledge that she could be there waiting for her teacher for a very, very long time.

* * *

"Now, young one, tell me about yourself." Ryoushi asked in his deep voice.

Naruto sat across from the man in a what looked to be a small training room. They had left the basement level and Naruto had followed the man up two flights of stairs and through several winding corridors to reach this place. He had been to the ANBU headquarters many times during his life, but he hadn't been in a room like this one before. Not that it was terribly impressive or even notable looking. But what it did have was weapons. A lot of weapons. It was like he had walked into an armory.

"Umm…My name is Uzumaki Naruto…," He felt uncharacteristically nervous. Ryoushi's (as the man had instructed him to call him) eyes never left his, and all of his attention seemed to be concentrated on what Naruto had to say. It wasn't something that happened often. "…My dream is to be Hokage."

The man blinked, but didn't laugh or smile, or do anything that any adult who heard that generally did. He just nodded. "And how to you intend to achieve this goal?"

"By being the best ninja in the world! Isn't that the only way?" He said, with a little more spirit.

Ryoushi raised an eyebrow, "I see. And how are you going to go about becoming the best ninja in the world?"

"I…uhh…errr…umm…With lots of training, of course!" He said, somewhat unsteadily. He knew his response sounded weak, and he had the sneaking suspicion that the man was making fun of him. It wasn't like there was a guide out there for him to follow to become the best ninja in the world. If there was a guide like that, he would be hard pressed to find someone who would be willing to sell it to him.

"Of course…" said the man, musingly, "And what sort of training have you been doing?"

That was more stable ground for Naruto. He rigorously trained every day to be the best he could be. It was the roughest of self-guided training, to say the least, but it was the effort that was put into it that counted, right? "Umm…Well, every morning, I start off with a good run and weight training, and on my days off from school, I'd go down to the practice yards to work on my taijustsu or my accuracy. Then in the evenings I go to the library and borrow scrolls to study. I do that for most of the night."

"How about your information gathering skills? Your jutsu? Stealth? Scouting? Mapmaking? Diplomacy? Any of those other skills that the world's greatest ninja would need to master?" Ryoushi asked.

"Ah…Some of that stuff is covered in the scrolls I study," Naruto said, feeling uncharacteristically small and insignificant. It wasn't as if the man was being insulting, he seemed genuinely curious. It would almost be better if he was being insulting, that way he could get angry instead of feeling stupid.

"Hmm…? Really? That shows a surprising amount of forethought for someone your age. Most genin have the tendency to ignore those topics in favor of trying to become straight combat specialists. Good for you." The man praised quietly.

Naruto didn't quite know how to deal with that remark, considering that he was halfway suspicious that the man had been mocking him the whole conversation. However, that didn't stop the subtle warm feeling that he felt running through him. After all, compliments were rare things, especially from other ninja. He couldn't bring himself to entirely disregard the remark.

Ryoushi stared at him in contemplation for a few more minutes, before sighing and getting to his feet. Naruto moved to copy him, but the man waved him back down, and began to stretch. "Well, little one, you certainly have a long way to go to become the best ninja in the world, but I will do my best in the time being that I am with you to help you reach that goal. It's good to see someone your age reaching for a goal so high."

"Uhh…Sir…err…Ryoushi-sensei, but you keep talking as if you are really old? You don't look that old…Well, you look a little weird, so I guess it might be hard to guess at your age, I dunno. You don't move like an old person either. Old-Man Hokage walks kind of hunched over and with a little bit of a limp, you know?" Naruto asked, babbling a bit.

Ryoushi laughed. "That is all very true. I'm nearing forty, which by ninja standards should be ripe old age, really. The Hokage has me by 30 years, at least. Still, I'm older than your average ninja. But that doesn't mean I am any less dangerous. Experience and wisdom come with age, remember that," Naruto nodded, now curious about the instructor.

"I believe that leaves only a little more of a formal introduction. As you heard before, I am Hoshigaki Ryoushi. I am a non-fatal weapons specialist. My responsibility in the field is the retrieval of subjects for interrogation," he sighed, "And before you ask, yes, my looks are the result of a bloodline. In the Mist, it is a relatively famous, but I doubt you known anything of it. Most of us live in Konoha now, anyway, so there is probably little point in you knowing about us beyond that. Besides, it isn't your business."

Naruto nodded, not quite understanding, but somehow getting the jist of it. Rare family, not likely to be enemies, not his business. He could deal with that. He of all people knew that people deserved some space when it came to personal secrets.

The man suddenly went suddenly still, and out of nowhere a bo was suddenly in his face. It might have actually hit, if he hadn't reacted just enough to fall over backwards in a heap. He scrambled to his feet, ready to give the man a piece of his mind for the sudden attack, but was stopped by the man's eyes. They had been relatively warm and curious before. Now, they were cold, hard, and emotionless; less like a human and more like some sort of ferocious predator. He was reminded of a certain ocean predator he had once seen pictures of. He almost expected to man to open his mouth and bare some sort of fangs at him. When he actually did, Naruto had to use all of his willpower not to crumple to the floor and curl up in a ball.

"This is warning, _boy_," unlike the first few times the man had used the word, it was filled with venom, "Being a ninja is serious business. Ibiki instructed us to pass this message on to you all to the best of our ability. The Torture and Interrogation unit is…"

* * *

"…in the bloody mother#&#&ing business of ripping people's &#&holes out and getting all the information that oozes out. It's not bloody pretty and it certainly isn't the hell glamorous. We &#&#ing do our job and go home," Said the short, vulgar woman in the calmest voice Sakura had ever heard, despite being filled with so much cursing. She was sure that if there had been grass, it would have been practically wilting.

But Sakura's attention wasn't on the Itami's voice. She was doing her best to keep her eyes completely closed. She didn't want them open. She didn't think she'd ever want them open again. They were _staring_ at her. She could feel their gaze, even with her eyes clothes. The heads.

"Open your bloody eyes, _slut_. This is #&#&ing reality here. We don't take #&#& in any form from &#&ing anybody. We aren't fooled…"

* * *

"…By any of those petty illusions or lies offered up by ninja who are stupid enough to get caught, Sasuke. We find out the truth, and nothing stops us from doing so. We torture, we maim, we injure, we rape. We're Konoha's shadowy protectors, soiling our hands so the village and our clients don't have to."

Sasuke wasn't impressed. He hadn't been impressed by Ejiki when he had met the man the other day, and this seemingly threatening message from Ibiki hadn't done much to improve his impressions. He was, however, grudgingly impressed by the truly massive piles of paperwork that filled the man's small office. At some places it even reached the ceiling. It seemed like a small breeze would cause the entire mass to collapse, burying (and probably killing) any that were in the room at the time.

"Now, if you hear this warning, Sasuke, and want to leave, feel free to walk out that door right now. You can choose to do so at any time, really. However, I think you're ballsy enough to take anything I can throw at you. Neh, Sasuke?" the man said with a smile.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and felt a smile tug at his lips. A challenge, eh? Naruto wouldn't dare refuse it, so neither would he. Not that he would in any other circumstances, but he wouldn't lose to the dead last under any circumstance. After all, he had an ambition to complete

"Of course," he said with complete confidence.

The man's demeanor changed in an instant, going from mildly serious back to his playful attitude that Sasuke had seen yesterday. "Great! Stupendous! Awesome, even! Now then…" He began rustling through a stack of papers, and for some reason Sasuke felt a sense of impending doom. After a moment, the man pulled out a piece of paper with a flourish and presented it to Sasuke as if it were a kingly gift, "This is a staff requisition form, Sasuke. We use them for a wide variety of…"

A sense of impending doom, indeed.

* * *

Iruka sat at his desk, humming quietly to himself as he prepared for class. The brats would begin streaming in in less than twenty minutes. He had only that much time to set-up the desk for his new assistant. It was a little strange, Mizuki-sensei, may the man burn forever in an eternal hell, had been taken away only a few days ago. Teachers for the ninja academy were notoriously hard to replace, as being pinned down to one place wasn't something favored by most ninja. Nor was taking care of children. Usually, they had to wait till an experienced ninja was injured or in some other way disabled from taking normal missions to volunteer out of boredom or necessity. But a notification of a new assistant had been in his mailbox in the staff room when he had arrived.

It wasn't something to be worried about though. He certainly wasn't the type to look a gift horse in the mouth. The students who had failed the tests from their appointed jonin-sensei's would be back in class today, and would undoubtedly cause trouble. He would certainly need the help.

"Oy! Iruka!" said a somewhat familiar voice from the door.

Iruka looked up and saw of all people…Mitarashi Anko standing in his door. He hadn't seen her in more than two years when he had left the Couriers to become a teacher. Why the hell was she at his door? Hadn't she joined the ANBU? "…Anko? What brings you here this early in the morning?"

Anko seemed somewhat startled by his question, but smiled. Despite having no contact for more than two years, he recognized that smile. It meant trouble. The kind of trouble that would take a long time to get rid of.

"Why, Iruka, I can't visit an old friend on occasion?" she sensuously asked as she…sashayed over to his desk, and sat on the edge of it. "Why shouldn't I come to…visit you?"

Iruka held in a blush to the best of his ability. "Because class starts in twenty minutes, and I think you'd scare the kids." He said in his driest tone.

She pouted, and was about to say something in reply when the headmaster entered and saw them. Iruka suppressed a wince as the man made his way over to the desk to join them. Unauthorized ninja were forbidden from showing up at the academy for any number of reasons. This was going to be the lecture of a lifetime.

"Ah, Iruka, I see you've met your new assistant." His boss said, happily.

Iruka could only stare speechless in abject horror and confusion as the headmaster and Anko struck a lively conversation and the first students walked through the door.

What. The. Hell?

* * *

Wow, it's been nearly a year, hasn't it? I apologize once again, but really, there really isn't anything I do to make it up to you other than try to get at least one more chapter out before the end of summer. Hopefully life (work + internship + studying + video games + friends) will let me get there.

Story notes: This chapter is awkward because I need to switch from a continuous line of though to something a little more fluid for later chapters. Because if I keep doing every minute of every day, we'll never get anywhere. I drop some hints of something interesting happening with Iruka and Naruto early on in this chapter. That was a scene that was originally was suppose to go in the last chapter, but was cut for time. I'm saving it for a flashback later. Dialogue my major irritation this chapter. Ryoushi didn't come out as formal as I wished in the first draft, and a good bit of his dialogue got rewritten. I spent a lot of time thinking about how Ejiki should speak too, but it was more fun in him just being weird. However, Sakura continues to be one of my favorite characters to write. The opening scene was a blast to write, really. I look forward to getting in her head in later chapters.

Next chapter! Time jump of one week! The plot will finally advance! We'll see a good bit of Naruto and Ryoushi, and hopefully Itami and Sakura. And Anko will cause trouble!

Til next time!

Edit: Forgot to realize that in general blocks random symbols, so I played around until some stuck.


	8. Updates Library Visit

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I have no intentions of profiting from this story.

Chapter 8 – Updates/Library Visit

Ibiki was surprised by how each of his subordinates looked when he saw them together. All of them had very uncharacteristic expressions on their faces. Itami looked thoroughly…pleased, something that generally meant that something very bad had happened to someone else. Most often an ex-boyfriend. Ryoushi had a thoughtful expression on his face, rather than his usual stoic expression. Ejiki just looked worried. And that was perhaps the most disturbing of all.

"It's been two weeks since you've had the kids. What have you got? Opinions?" He asked.

The three exchanged brief looks, attempting to decide whose should go first. After a moment, Itami shrugged and began to speak, "The girl is bloody useless at anything that involves her body. She's also got a weak stomach. She threw up all over my frickin' closet when I showed her my Collection," She frowned slightly, "However, the girl's got brain to spare. And you were bloody right. Her chakra control is near perfect. At least for someone her age," she fell silent for a moment, then smiled fiercely, "And under all that goody-goody girl stuff, she's got a damn fine temper…"

* * *

Itami didn't get this girl. She didn't get most girls in general, but Haruno Sakura seemed to exist to piss her off. She was quiet, she was meek, and she was frightened. Not that she could really fault her for being frightened. In fact, it was damn intelligent of her, come to think of it. Still, the girl needed some balls, or she wouldn't get anywhere as a ninja. Or as a person for that matter.

"Alright, girl, another twenty push-ups, and you'll only have the run left today. No stops this time. I know you took a ten minute break yesterday, and I won't bloody have it today. It's a run, not a walk. Civies walk. You're a bloody ninja. Act like one. Or I'll beat it into to you." Itami instructed, feeling bored, and watching detachedly as the sweat-covered girl gasped an affirmative and continued to work.

The girl had been at it for the better part of an hour. Itami was a firm believer in hard work. There were easy ways to do things. They were to be avoided at all costs. It was one of the few things that she and Ryoushi agreed on, and perhaps the one that allowed them to work together so well, despite their huge personal differences. The girl would grow this way, or she would not grow at all. Ibiki would simply have to deal with it. Her sensei had used this method, and it had worked perfectly well for her. So using that logic, it would work perfectly well for the spineless wimp of a girl that was grunting and sweating in front of her.

It wasn't as if she was really disappointed in the girl. In fact, Sakura was a more than willing student. She didn't complain, she was attentitive especially when the one teammate wasn't around, and most important, she was smart. She wasn't just by-the-books smart, she could apply it. Quickly. And whatever she came up with worked. Well, generally. Nobody was perfect after all. Any other teacher would have been pleased with her progress. Hell, Itami was pleased with her progress. But the girl was missing something. Something vital. Itami hadn't quite put her finger on it, but something was keeping her from liking this girl.

Abruptly the girl collapsed to the ground, gasping heavily. Irritated, Itami walked over and squatted next to her head. "What the hell, girl? You owe me two more push ups. This was only five more push-ups than yesterday, and you did perfectly fine then. Why the weakness today, slut?"

The girl didn't answer, just panted with her face on the ground. She didn't even attempt to meet Itami's eyes, which only served to piss off Itami even more. Standing up, she roughly rolled the girl face up with her foot. The girl's eyes were glassy, but they immediately focused on her, which meant the girl was certainly capable of hearing her and responding. Itami knew her routine was rough, but she was skilled enough to know when enough was enough. She wasn't a medic-nin, first class, for no reason, after all.

"You owe me two more push-ups, slut. Then you run. Then some anatomy lessons. Then some taijutsu. The same as yesterday. The same as it will be tomorrow. The same as it will be until I bloody well decide that you aren't chicken#&#&. Get the #&#& to work." Itami lectured. Or yelled. Whatever it was called.

The girl continued to ignore her. She seemed to be refusing to even recognize Itami's presence. "What's up, whore? Given up? Ready to go back to your mama and learn how to #&#&ing bake? Get married and #&#& out a couple of kids? Is this all you got? Just the other day, the other's were telling me their students are light years ahead of other brats your age. Seems like I got the sucky one. Oh well." Itami spit on the girl, and turned to leave.

She almost tripped when a hand grabbed her ankle, despite the fact that she had prepared for it. However, she was unprepared for what came next. Pleased, but unprepared.

"…Shut…up…" the girl said from the ground, this time meeting her eyes. And boy did Itami like what she saw this time. Sakura was angry. It was bleeding off her in waves, and not even the spittle running down her nose did anything to detract from it.

"Oh," she said, raising an eyebrow, "and why should I?" she asked, prodding the girl a little more. This could be interesting.

"Shut…up…I…don't…#&#&ing…suck," the girl released her, flipped herself over and landed in a sprawl. She recovered slowly, levering herself into proper push-up position, before slowly lowering herself once, "I…can…take…whatever…you…dish… out."…And then a second time. Itami watched dispassionately as the girl climbed slowly back to her feet. She wavered a bit, but managed to steady herself and then glared at Itami.

The gob of spit that landed on her own face was a bit of a surprise, but by the time she had wiped it off, Haruno had started her run. She didn't mind all that much. Worse people had spit on her before, with much more talent and far better accuracy. And once with spit that had burned like acid. That had been a memorable occasion. But this…Now this was interesting. The girl had some spunk after all.

* * *

"…And so for once I have nothing to complain about," smirked Itami, "We'll cover the rest of basic anatomy next week. I don't know how much muscle I'll end up being able to put on her, she's a pretty small girl," She frowned, "So I haven't started her on a taijutsu style yet, just basic stuff to work the muscles she's been working on. In a month or two when her muscle mass beings to settle, I'd make a decision. That is, if you let me keep the bloody girl that long."

Ibiki was torn between concern for the girl and amusement at Itami's sudden interest. Itami was a skilled med-nin and a valuable member of his unit, but she was a little rough around the edges. This was on top of the generally level of roughness for the unit. If Sakura could put up with Itami's barbs and rough training methods, she would be able to put up with just about everything.

"Alright, good. Keep me posted on her progress, Itami. Don't do anything too dangerous with her." He wasn't encourage by her look of wide-eyed innocence, "Ejiki, how about Sasuke?"

Ejiki shrugged, though without his characteristic bounciness. "About as well could be expected considering you gave me a crazy violent hyper-depressed teenager. And then told me to teach him patience. And love, friendship, and all that jazz."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow. " I don't remember the part about love and friendship. I think you came up with that on your own. I suppose that means you are having some difficulty? Explain."

Ejiki rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair as far as he could get without it falling over, "Well, he is a fast learner, but for _some_ reason he's not a big fan of staying in the office…"

* * *

With a rough thump, one of the huge paper towers that littered the room collapsed upon it self, taking several others with it during its fall. The dust cloud that was thrown up by the fall quickly filled the room, and Ejiki, calm as ever, pulled his shirt over his mouth and walked out of the room. When Sasuke did not follow him out quickly, he sighed, and walked back in and fished the boy from beneath the dusty pile and brought him out to the hallway. It would be a while before the office would be usable again.

He watched Sasuke cough and gag with interest. He had obviously not been prepared for the consequences of purposely tipping over one of the towers. Ejiki was rather curious about why the boy had decided to do something that stupid. "So, why the hell didja do that, midget?" He said, plopping himself down next to the gagging boy.

It was another few minutes of coughing before the boy managed to clear enough dust out of his system before he responded, "I didn't do it on purpose. Hand slipped." The boy lied. It was a fairly good lie, too. The boy knew to keep eye contact and not let his voice catch. Too bad, he was a million years too young to out lie Ejiki.

"That's a lie, Sasuke-kun. You pushed the pillar in front of your desk about 5 millimeters to the left, which was just enough to destabilize the entire pile. And you did it when my back was turned. Tch, Tch, Sasuke-kun. Trying to be sneaky." Ejiki replied in a sing-song tone of voice.

The boy grunted, and looked at the floor and struck his best brooding pose, the one that made the girl genin go starry-eyed for some reason. "If that's what you want to believe, go ahead. I said it was an accident."

The boy really did practice that pose way too often to be healthy. So Ejiki remedied the situation by reaching over and grabbing the boy in a headlock, and proceeding to give him a noogie to remember. The boy ineffectively thrashed around in surprise and anger. Ejiki had noticed almost immediately that the boy hated to be touched. And had decided to exploit it at every opportunity. With, of course, the pure motive to attempt to cure the boy of his aversion. Or at least teach him to hide it. Many ninja didn't like to be touched. Most ninja, however, had the common sense to hide that aversion. Ejiki was rapidly finding that common sense and the Uchiha brat had very little in common. Even the Fox brat had a little bit more. Well, sometimes.

"So I assume, that your little bout of stupidity was caused by boredom, Sasuke-kun? Don't like being stuck in the office all day? Can't blame ya, with your teammates doing all sorts of awesome training…stuff, I guess you might call it. Oh, well. Look at the bright side. You could have gotten stuck with stuffy ol' Lover-of-Blonds and spend your time doing nothing but stare at the wall and pick your nose." Ejiki said, pushing the boy's buttons a little.

Sasuke grunted, but didn't do anything else than stare at the wall. Ejiki had never seen a young child pout quite so well as the Uchiha managed. He certainly kept a lot of those emotions pent up inside. The kid needed to lighten up, take a breath of fresh air, see the world, get laid, or whatever the phrase was.

"…So…Play cards?" He asked.

Sasuke turned to him with a puzzled expression. "What?"

Ejiki gave him his own version of a puzzled expression, before slowly repeating himself. "I said, do – you – play - cards?" He pointed at the office. "Gonna be a while before the dust settles and we can get back to work. So we play cards. You know, keep ourselves busy and waste time until we can do work again. Bureacrats like us have been doing it for ages."

That seemed to do the trick. The boy's face lit up in anger, and he got to his feet. "What the hell? Your office is a mess, and you want to play cards? Can't you think of something else to do? How about training me a little? You know, go outside, and do…," he made a sound like a strangled beaver, "something! Are you a ninja or what? What the hell am I doing here? I might as well not even be here. It's useless! I'm never going to accomplish my mission, at this rate. You're not teaching me anything!"

Sasuke stood there panting after his long burst, while Ejiki looked on with interest and chewed on the edge of his shirt. That was the most the kid had ever said in one go. "How about patience?" He offered, with a hopeful expression on his face.

The Uchiha gave him a disgusted look, and slid back to the ground facing the other direction. Too bad. It seemed like he didn't play cards.

* * *

"…And so other than learning about paperwork, Sasuke remains just the same old boring Sasuke as he always is. I was sort of hoping that he'd ask about his teammates or something. Or maybe politely ask for some training, but no luck," He shrugged, "Maybe I'll drop a hint next week or so. I doubt he'll pick it up, though. He's sharp with some things and kind of stupid on others."

Ibiki shook his head in exasperation. A week with Ejiki and the kid had made no progress. Ejiki was a pain in the butt for certain, but he had a way with people. If even Sasuke couldn't warm up to him…Well, the kid had a lot of reasons to be cautious around people, but you couldn't do it your entire life. If the kid couldn't learn that particular lesson, he'd live a sad, lonely life. Well, not that a ninja's life wasn't that already.

"Alright. Keep at it. If he doesn't perk up in the next week or two, we'll start him on a breakdown training regime. I'd rather not have to waste all that time breaking him down and building him up again, but if its what it takes, we'll just do it. The kid'll thank us later." Ibiki said.

Ejiki snorted, "Not to mention hating us for just about ever."

Ibiki shrugged. "Oh well," There were worse things for a student to do than hate his teacher. He turned to Ryoushi. "Any luck with the Fox-brat?"

The man as always, wasn't one to be hurried. He sat quietly considering Ibiki question for a long minute, then turned fully to face Ibiki. "I think I'm going to train him to be a Mist-style shinobi."

Ibiki blinked and exchanged looks with Ejiki, who shrugged. "…Alright…Explain?"

Ryoushi leaned forward and folded his hands in front of himself. "To explain, I will need to tell a story. On the second day after I had begun training him…"

* * *

"Naruto, what do you know of genjutsu?" Ryoushi asked.

They met in the dojo in the ANBU building where Ryoushi had long ago set up shop. He had instructed Naruto to meet him there everyday at the break of dawn, and to his moderate surprise, the boy had regularly arrived even earlier than he chose to. They had worked through a short physical warm-up to greet the new day, and then Ryoushi had sat them down on the mats in the back.

"Umm…Other than I suck at it, not much, Ryoushi-sensei. What should I know?" the boy replied, not ashamed in the least to admit his weakness. That had been one of the first lessons the Ryoushi had taught him. Weakness was not shameful, it was something to improve.

"Hmm…Good question, Naruto. But do you know why you… 'suck', as you so colorfully put it?" he asked, studying the boy's reactions.

The boy opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it as if something had come to him. He thought for several moments. Ryoushi could almost read his thoughts by watching the boy's expression change. That was a major weakness for a ninja, but for now it was simply another tool to help him teach his young student.

When the boy replied, his answer was slow and methodical, though Ryoushi could detect a good bit of anger hidden behind his words, "Well…to be honest…I don't know. I've never really tried, you know. All my teachers said I would be hopeless at it, so I guess I never really got the chance."

Ryoushi nodded. The boy wasn't stupid by any means. Give him the correct prompt and he could indeed find the correct solution. Ibiki's guess had been correct, the boy was indeed a complete novice at genjutsu. Well, to be honest, the boy was practically a novice in everything. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, he was weak across the board. Not in ability or skill, but in knowledge. Physical ability in general was above average, which was good. And of course, as just proven, there was at least some intelligence there.

In short, the perfect apprentice. One with few preconceptions and other skills, while at the same time, not a complete beginner. Someone to molded and guided to the best of his abilities.

"Well, young one, today is the day you will get that chance. I have been asked by Captain Morino to rate your performance in all areas of ninja skills. I will teach you the most basic of basics for genjutsu. Now, Naruto, what is the purpose of genjutsu?" asked Ryoushi.

The boy pouted for a moment, and the screwed up his face as if thinking very hard. His answer came out cautiously, he was a bit unsure of himself, "To confuse people?"

Ryoushi smiled, "That is certainly part of it. Confusion is often the goal of using genjutsu. However, the proper answer is _disruption_. To interrupt or impede the enemy. To, as you said it, sow confusion among their ranks. To cause weaknesses to appear when there was none before. That is the purpose of genjutsu. Now, what is the key tool in using genjutsu?"

Ryoushi watched Naruto think over that one for a few minutes, but eventually the boy gave up and offered him a weak, apologetic smile. Ryoushi wasn't that disappointed, the question was a bit difficult, after all.

"The answer is you," he poked Naruto in the chest with an outstretched finger, "A genjutsu can only be created by what you know and what you can imagine. It is purely a tool of the mind. A stupid or unimaginative person cannot hope to succeed with genjutsu," he saw Naruto stiffen at that remark, but kept his smile to himself, the boy was far too easily manipulated, "Now, I will teach the Emotional Projection Technique. Most ninja learn it, eventually even without handseals. The feeling that people call 'killing intent' is often caused by this genjutsu."

"What does it do?" Naruto asked eagerly. Good. The boy was interested in learning, even a technique that was as basic as this.

"It is very simple. The Emotional Projection Technique does what its name says. It takes an emotion that the user has and amplifies and projects it onto another person," he saw Naruto frown in disappointment, "Don't discount that!" Ryoushi said sharply, "Emotions like fear, worry, and despair can paralyze opponents. Happiness, boredom, and other positive emotions can distract. It may sound simple, but often the simple tools are the best ones."

The boy gave him a skeptical look, but didn't seem completely disinterested in the technique. He was very impatient. He wanted to jump right into the higher level things. That might work with some ninjutsu, but with both taijutsu and genjutsu, the basics were necessary. Everything else built from there. That was a lesson he needed to impart on his student as soon as possible. The basics were never useless. Any ninja who forgot that quickly found himself dead.

"The seals for this are Horse, Dragon, Monkey. However, eventually you should practice this jutsu enough to master it without handseals. It will be considerably weaker, but the advantage of a signless jutsu should be obvious. Now, give it a try." He instructed.

The boy went over the handseals for a few minutes, properly attempting to memorize their order. He seemed about ready for a trial run, when he turned to ask Ryoushi a question. "Uh…Is there a feeling that you want me to use?"

Ryoushi thought about it for a moment, then shrugged, "Your strongest emotion will do. We are testing your potential here, we might as well test it at your best. If the technique won't work even for that, we'll concentrate on other areas. I'm sure you will have other strengths."

The boy nodded, going through the seals absent-mindedly a few more times, then turned to face Ryoushi. The boy's seal work was good, at least. Quick, crisp, and accurate. He took a deep breath, then shouted out, "Emotion Projection Technique!"

Ryoushi last coherent thought was that he needed to cure the child of the habit of yelling out technique names. It could get him killed some-

_It was cold. Not the outside kind of cold, where you skin cracked open and blood poured out until it froze. It was the cold of the inside. His soul was shriveling in upon itself, rending itself into tiny pieces. He tried to look around for help, but he couldn't see anyone. Wasn't that strange? Hadn't there been at least another person in the room with him? He tried to remember where the others were, but to his horror, he could barely remember their faces. And even as he tried to hold on to the few details he could remember, he felt them slip away till there was nothing left. After a few moments he was doubting that they had even existed in the first place. He was alone in the world. Abandoned. Forsaken. In fact, he might as well just end it all right now. He scrabbled for his knife…ah there it was. And now-_

"-shi-sensei? Ryoushi-sensei? Are you alright?" Naruto asked him, his voice worried.

Ryoushi realized he was sweating and breathing extremely fast. His pulse was way above normal, and he realized one of his kunai was halfway to his neck. He stared impassively at the knife for a few moments as he regained his self control, before slowly lowering it and putting it away.

"Naruto, how much chakra, did you put into that?" he asked, when he was sure that his voice would not shake.

Naruto considered this for a moment, before shrugging guiltily. "I'm not sure. I don't pay attention to that stuff. I don't run out of chakra, so why bother?"

Ryoushi considered that for a moment, before nodding, "Alright then, I will start you on a chakra control exercise. When you have mastered that, we will try this again."

* * *

"…The chakra control exercise itself is a story of its own, but I fear that it has no real impact on this tale, so I shall skip it. But…it was…interesting, I suppose. And far more exciting that it should have been. " Ryoushi commented, before beginning his story once again.

* * *

He stood in front of the boy once again in the dojo. The chakra control exercise had been…moderately successful, to say things optimistically. It had been an effort to get Naruto to even notice how much chakra he added to his techniques. The boy truly had an impressive chakra capacity. He had never even bothered with learning frugality with his chakra. However, Ryoushi certainly hadn't expected the trees to explode during the exercise. No, that hadn't been planned, at all. He was still digging out splinters. The child had thankfully been fine after a day.

"Now, Naruto, I want you to pay close attention to how much chakra you put into the Projection. Only use the minimum you feel that the technique will take. We can try it later at full power." He instructed the boy as he laid his weapons aside. What had nearly happened last time would not be repeated no matter what.

The boy nodded with a determined look on his face. The lesson on chakra conservation had hit home when Ryoushi had showed him how things could go wrong when to much energy was inserted. The tree had been one unfortunate result of that. However, a few of the techniques the boy had failed in school suddenly worked with surprising efficiency. Ryoushi smiled inside. He had missed teaching.

The boy's hands whipped through the seal sequence quickly and efficiently. Within seconds, Ryoushi rocked back on his heels. The unmistakeable cold feeling from before had returned. Thankfully, the technique was now so low powered that he could resist it, at least to some degree. Naruto's form wavered in and out of existence, and he could feel a small voice whispering things in the back of his mind. _Alone, No friends, Alone, where did they go_, it went on, occasionally changing. It wasn't a pleasant feeling the boy was projecting, that was certain.

He concentrated, and found he had full control of his limbs. With that discovered, it was simple to bring his hands together and perform the genjutsu cancel seal. The voices and cold feelings disappeared with a stronger jolt than expected, but the world righted itself after a moment. He took a minute to recover himself fully, then smiled a Naruto (Something that most would find terribly frightening as it showed far more teeth than most people were comfortable with, but the boy recognized it for what it was). "Congratulations, young one, you may have a talent for genjutsu."

He let the boy celebrate for a few moments, before asking the question that had been bothering him, "By the way, Naruto, what feeling were you projecting? It was quite strong."

The boy looked at him curiously, "You didn't recognize it, Ryoushi-sensei? I thought everyone felt it. It was loneliness."

* * *

" …And we have been refining things from there. He has the mental flexibility and chakra capacity to maintain field-type genjutsu, I believe. Combine that with the decent martial ability that I can provide, and we'll have a deadly assassin on our hands. He's already an expert in stealth and deception." Ryoushi finished quietly.

Ibiki blinked at Ryoushi's analysis. That was certainly unexpected. He had expected a recommendation for a ninjutsu or a heavy combat specialist, considering those were Ryoushi's specialties. Ibiki could see himself training something like that, but an assassin? The brat was so young… "I don't know, if I can approve of that, Ryoushi. He's only a child after all…"

He looked at the faces of his subordinates, but other than Ryoushi, who remained impassive, the other two looked as uneasy as he felt. Ibiki knew none of them had much experience with children, again, excepting Ryoushi who had a grandchild on the way. Ibiki didn't quite know what to do. It was a big decision. He'd have to discuss it with someone. The Hokage, maybe. Or Iruka.

"…Well, we'll keep his options open for now. Lay the foundations for what you want, and if things go well, we'll discuss it later. In the end, it'll have to be his decision. We can't that away from him," Ryoushi nodded, "Also, next week, I'd like to bring all three of them together for a joint exercise, so leave Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday open. I'll take charge of them for that."

His subordinates nodded and walked out. Ibiki sat in the meeting room alone for a long time, considering what it might really mean to be a jonin-sensei. The choices he made in T&I often were matters of life and death, but something like this was new, even for Ibiki. His team members were adults and knew the possible consequences. Naruto was a child. An adult by Konoha law, certainly, but a child nonetheless. Could he bring himself to make a choice like that for the boy? Was this what a jonin-sensei had to do? And was he fit to make that choice?

* * *

It was Sunday, which meant it was library day for Naruto. This week's pile was even larger than normal (which was saying something, as he generally had a pile stacked to his head), due to the fact that every time Ryoushi-sensei had mentioned something, he had dashed off to the library to see if they had scrolls or books on it. Which meant that this had become his second trip of the day to get everything back. His house had been filled almost to bursting with books!

He stumbled into the library, doing his best not to drop anything from the precariously tipping pile in his hands. Thankfully, Honya-san, the librarian that he was friendly with was waiting near the door for him. After the mess he had made with the first load, she had agreed to wait at the door for him. Naruto appreciated it. He wouldn't want to damage the girl's precious books.

"Is that it, Naruto?" she asked, panting, when they had finished putting the books away. It had turned into a contest like always, who could do it the fastest. It had started as a way to pass the time, then had become a treasured part of his weekly routine. He lost of course. Who was he to beat a full fledged ninja librarian, after all?

"I think so," he replied, gulping air. He looked around the room. The library had been one of the few places that had provided him sanctuary from the hatred he faced outside. Honya's predecessor had been a blind old coot, who could, despite his impairment, locate every book in the library in less than a minute. He had never cared about who Naruto was and had let him wander the library at will. When he had died, Honya had taken over, and while she had been wary of him at first, they had slowly become friends.

"You've not been here for a while, you know. I thought you had forgotten about me. I've been lonely!" she said with a teasing smile.

He ignored her teasing like he always did, "Give me a break, Honya-san! I've been working. Ryoushi-sensei's been running me into the ground. I don't get to the library most days till your shift is over. Sorry." He smiled apologetically.

She sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Alright, alright, Naruto-kun. I'll accept that excuse. You aren't the only one of my regulars who's been absent lately."

"Oh?" he asked, "You have regulars? The boys bothering you again? If you want, I can-" Naruto was interrupted by foot stomping very painfully on his toes.

"All you boys think the same," Honya lectured with a cross look on her face and a finger in his face, "I can take care of myself, thank you very much. Who's the chuunin here and who's the new genin, huh? No, one of your classmates also used to come in pretty regularly. From what she told me her sensei's been pretty tough on her as well. She's over in the corner with one of her teammates, if you want to go talk to her." She walked off to deal with a rather beaten up ninja who had just walked up to the desk, "Ah…Lee-san, back again, today?Well…"

Naruto couldn't help but be mildly curious. He hadn't talked to any of his classmates besides Sakura and Sasuke since they had graduated. He hadn't even gotten into a fight with Kiba in the past two weeks, and that had been an almost daily thing for the better part of three years. He hadn't really gotten along with most of class, but it couldn't hurt to just want to check in and see how they were doing? If he was lucky, maybe it was Ino or Hinata. They had been the friendliest of the girls that he had known in class.

He peeked around the shelves into the corner. He blinked in surprise. Sitting there quietly were Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura was sitting in front of a massive book, frantically copying something on it to a scroll, while Sasuke had a stack of papers he was idly glaring at. Naruto was mildly irritated that they were both here and hadn't invited him. If they were going to spend their day off together, why couldn't he be involved, too?

Though admittedly, they really hadn't seen much of each other the past two weeks. They said hello to each other in the morning, and then headed off to each others teachers. Occasionally, they do a bit of work together. For example, he and Sasuke had cleaned up the holding areas together early in the week for a couple hours, but that was about the extent of their contact. They just really didn't have much time to spend together.

He debated joining them, for a minute, and weighed the likelihood that they would just tell him to scram. Deciding that it perhaps was worth the risk and the aggravation, he turned to the nearest shelf. He searched for a moment, before he found a book on summoned creatures that looked interesting. Might as well appear to actually have a reason for being at the library and wanting to sit down. Ryoushi had mentioned that summons were awesome in battle anyway.

He turned around, tucked the book under his arm, took a deep breath, and then attempted to walk as casually around the bookshelf as possible. He thought he managed it pretty well. Sasuke had just happened to look up as soon as he cleared the shelf. His eyes widened, then he shrugged; returning to his papers. While not the friendliest response ever, Naruto hadn't really sensed any anger. Well not directed at him anyway. That was reserved for the papers. If glares could set things on fire, the stack of papers in front of Sasuke would have been ash long ago.

He walked over to the table with a little bit more confidence, and strode over to the chair beside Sasuke. He really wanted to take the chair beside Sakura, but wasn't willing to risk her getting angry. She looked focused enough on her book, and he knew from experience that bothering her while she was concentrating that hard would end painfully for him. Or really just about anyone, for that matter.

She gave him a distracted look as he sat down, but made no objection and immediately returned to her note-taking. He looked over at what she was reading, but one look was enough to convince him that he didn't really want to know what she was studying. The picture that was displayed showed a rather graphic picture of some man with much of his insides laying beside him on the ground. He noticed that Sasuke also seemed to be avoiding looking at the book, which made him feel a little bit better.

He wasn't quite sure how to start a conversation with his teammates, so he simply opened his book and began to read. It took him a while to get used the language. It was far more technical that he really could understand, but thankfully, there were plenty of explanations, and a very helpful glossary. Within minutes, he was absorbed and had tuned out the rest of the world.

He was disturbed some time later, by Sakura slamming her heavy book closed and muttering a number of indistinct curses under her breath. He almost whistled in appreciation. He only heard part of them, but he was surprised the table wasn't scorched or the grass outside wilted. Something had happened. He couldn't ever remember Sakura saying some…well, that colorful.

"Itami-sensei, I #&#&ing hate you," she said, this time clear as day, "Stupid tests. Who cares about how fast you lose blood with a hole through your stomach…" she slumped to the table and put her head on her arms.

This seemed to signal to Sasuke to stop his paperwork as well, as he pulled out a folder and began putting papers in various pockets. Naruto marked his page, closed his book, and leaned back on the legs of the chair. "Rough week, Sakura?"

She looked up and gave him a withering look. "Something like that. Itami-sensei is trying to kill me. Literally. The #&#&#&." She muttering and dropped her head back down. "How about, you, Fox? Blue-man giving you trouble?"

He scowled at her, "Don't call him that. He has a name. He's been walking me back through the basics," He frowned, "He's being really patient. He even put up with me exploding trees the other day."

Sasuke and Sakura turned to look at him. "Exploding trees?" They asked incredulously at the same time.

He blinked. "Yeah, we were doing chakra control exercises. The trees we were practicing on kept exploding whenever I tried to do the exercise."

The two of them exchanged looks, and then Sasuke shrugged. "Its better than sitting around doing paperwork all day," he muttered. "Ejiki won't let me out of the office," He glared accusingly at the two. "You two better work hard. He says he won't teach me until you two are at my level. I can't have you slowing me down. I have things to do and places to go. Don't make me leave you behind."

Naruto expected some sort of apologetic response from Sakura, but he was surprised when she turned on him and planted her hands on her hips. "Train yourself then," she snapped, "I'm in over my head as it is. I'll get there when I get there."

Sasuke was as surprised as Naruto was, judging by the awkward expression on his face. The was a moment of tense silence as Sakura glared icily at her teammate, before it was finally broken by Naruto's giggles. The two turned and glared at him.

"What's so funny, Fox?" Sakura asked.

Naruto, just smirked, and continued to laugh. After a moment, the tension seemed to break, and then Sakura and even Sasuke joined in on the laughter. It was a bit awkward, but it felt comfortable.

"We're going a bit crazy, aren't we?" Naruto asked between giggles, not entirely sure what he was laughing at.

"A little." Sakura answered, breathing hard.

They calmed after a moment, and settled into a sort of companionable silence. They each had it rough, Naruto saw. Sakura and Sasuke looked as tired as he felt. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for dinner," he went out on a limb, "Care to join me?" he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Sakura stared at him blankly for a moment, before an odd reverberated through the room. They both turned to Sasuke, who was uncharacteristically blushing a little. Naruto smiled, "I guess even the great Sasuke-kun gets a rumbly tumbly."

Sakura's hand smacked the back of his head. "Don't make fun of Sasuke, Naruto." But she was smiling, when he turned to look at her, "And no ramen. Too much carbohydrates, and not enough protein. I need protein."

"But…But…Its ramen. It's all you need to survive in this sad, cruel world," He whined.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Garbage, Naruto. Garbage. The salt in there will kill you someday."

"There's a good beef barbeque place downtown," Sasuke unexpected volunteered, startling both Sakura and Naruto.

They exchanged looks, and then shrugged.

"Sounds good to me. We just got paid on Friday, I suppose I can splurge." She replied.

Naruto sighed. "Well, it isn't ramen…But barbeque sounds good. Do you think they'll have barbeque ramen?"

* * *

It's been a while again. Sorry, about that. School got in the way again, as with everything else. Senior in college does not equal much time for writing at all.

Anyway, I will never write in flashbacks again. I wanted to try it, but it was way more trouble than its worth. I liked the multiple POVs, though. I dunno if I'll do so many again though. I generally try for 2 or 3 POVs, just to break things up. Lots of original characters this chapter. Next chapter should largely be canon characters, and a good bit of teamwork stuff. I'm looking forward to writing that.

Well, it'll be a while til the next one. I'll be graduating in two months, and who knows where I'll be. I hope you enjoy!


	9. The Mission Opening Ploys

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I have no intention of profiting from this story.

Chapter 9 - The Mission/Opening Ploys

The morning was far foggier than usual in Konoha, which leant an uncharacteristic chill to the air which made Sakura almost regret wearing her still relatively new, but already harshly worn work-out clothes. Ibiki-sensei had declared that today, tomorrow, and the next were some sort of group training days and had asked them to meet in Training Ground 21 in 'gear that you won't mind having destroyed'. Thankfully, the meet-up time was half-an-hour later than normal report time, which meant she got an unaccustomed half-an-hour to sleep.

Not that it had mattered much. She'd gotten too used to getting up as early as she did and had awoken at her normal time. While frustrating, this had actually let her have a relatively normal breakfast with her parents for once. It had probably been the longest time she had spent with them since she had graduated from the academy, and it had felt strangely awkward. It had only been a month, after all, and it wasn't like she had come home after a long war or something. But she hadn't been as excited to tell them about her experiences as she thought she would be.

While she was sure her father, himself an inactive ninja, would understand, she was sure her mother wouldn't be able to handle hearing about Itami-sensei's training. It was demanding, both physically and mentally, and Itami had no problem with laying down the law if she felt it was required. On some days, Sakura walked home with more bruises from her teacher than from her training, though all of them were, in retrospect, well deserved. Her mother could barely stand watching her mock fight in the academy. This would likely send her straight to the Hokage or the Council, and Sakura didn't want that.

Sakura didn't like Itami-sensei. Not in the least. But still, she found herself at odd moments admiring her. She didn't believe in sugar-coating anything. Sakura knew more now about the human body than she had ever wished to know, both good and bad. She knew things that could kill people, and things that could save them. And she was still at the barest tip of the iceberg. The things that Itami-sensei had taught her frightened her and some times disgusted her to her core, but they were all part of a reality that she hadn't really believed existed. Hadn't really wanted to believe existed, to be completely honest. Being a ninja wasn't an awesome and cool thing. It was dark, bloody, and dangerous.

She found that oddly exciting, which was another reason she found herself reluctant to talk to her parents. They had treated her like a fragile little flower her entire life, and had done their best to nurture her dreams. She knew that her father hadn't quite been able to manage it as a ninja. He had risen to chuunin and had gone on an assassination mission that had broken him in some way that the medic-nins hadn't been able to fix. He of all people could have warned her. But he hadn't, and now that she had seen the real world, even just a sliver of it, she found herself not wanting to go back. And that scared her sometimes.

Training Ground 21 was fairly small as far as they went. It bordered a small forest but was mostly flat grassland with a small lake that was overshadowed by an ancient oak tree. The oak was probably the most notable thing about the area. Supposedly the First Hokage and the Second had once sparred in the area and the lake had been created during the battle and the tree had been instrumental in the First's victory. Of course, the village was filled with places with stories like that, so Sakura didn't really give it much credence. Still it was quite a pretty view with the fog draped over everything.

As she approached the old tree, she noticed a figure beside the lake slowly emerging from the fog. Hoping it was Sasuke, she quickened her pace a little in the hopes of spending some time alone with him for a while. The teammates seldom met except for a few minutes every morning and when they happened to run into each other at the library. And she was usually far too grumpy at the library to really pay any attention to him. Itami-sensei's tests were far more brutal than anything the academy had ever thrown at her. Passing those was a far more serious matter at the moment. She had years in a team with Sasuke to make him hers. And it wasn't like he had any more time than her, so it wasn't as if he was in any danger of being stolen from her. So she told herself.

She slowed down when she got close enough to make out who the figure by the lake was. She was disappointed that it wasn't Sasuke, but wasn't surprised that it was Fox. Naruto had almost always arrived early for just about everything while they were at school, and like clockwork, she was unsurprised that he continued to be first as a genin. He was in the middle of what she thought was some sort of kata, and after a moment, she stopped walking and just sort of watched.

His movements were…well, relatively un-Naruto like. He motions were extremely slow and graceful and seemed to flow gently from one stance to another. Well, not perfectly, she saw him start now and again as he lost his balance slightly in between positions. Still, the movements were almost…beautiful, and Naruto looked fairly relaxed as he worked his way through the kata. It was almost spooky and unnatural to see him moving in such a way when she was used to seeing him bounce around with seemingly endless energy.

He came to rest at the end of a movement, and slowly brought his hands down. Sakura frowned. It didn't look like the end of the kata. The body posture was all wrong. He turned around and started when he saw that she was watching. After a moment of thinking, Sakura approached. "Was that the end? It looked a little odd."

"Hmm…? No. Haven't learned after that bit yet. Ryoushi-sensei says its better to take it at a stance at a time to make sure that each part is learned thoroughly," Naruto recited, as if quoting his teacher directly.

Sakura nodded, Itami-sensei had often said something similar. With far more profanity. "Huh. What was it? It doesn't look like any style I've seen here in the Fire country."

Naruto nodded excitedly, seemingly more than happy to talk about what he was learning. "Ryoushi-sensei says it is called 'The Flowing River.' It's from the Mist country. It's supposed to be really, really old. He said it used to be called 'Tai Chi' or something, but only old people know that."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Why's he teaching you Mist stuff?" It was kind of odd. The villages prided themselves on the superiority of their own styles, and generally took great pains to teach their ninja only those, blood-limit families excepted, of course. Those old families had often brought their own styles to the village and guarded them even more fiercely than the villages did.

Naruto shrugged. "Dunno. I guess it makes sense, since he's from the Mist for him to teach what he knows best? It's not really all that useful a style for me, though."

"I don't doubt that, idiot. With those moves, I'd be surprised if you could hurt a fly. Don't even dream of hit a ninja with it." Came a familiar sarcastic voice from above. Sakura whirled around with a smile on her face. There Sasuke was, sitting on branch high up on old tree, handsome as ever.

Before she could yell out a greeting, though, Naruto had reacted to Sasuke's insult. "Don't say that, you bastard! Ask Ryoushi-sensei to try it on you sometime!" he paused with a slightly awkward look on his face, as if remembering something embarrassing, "See how useless it is then!"

Sakura frowned, momentarily distracted from staring at Sasuke by Naruto's somewhat odd contradiction, "Then why'd you say it was useless for you, Fox?"

Naruto grinned, a little bit shamefully, "Takes years to learn to use effectively in battle, that's why. And you have to," he rolled his eyes, "'have the right sort of mindset' to use it properly. It's good for meditation and warm-ups, though. All the Mist styles are based on it, too. Sensei said it was a gateway or something," he grimaced, "And it teaches me 'the value of thinking about things all the way through, no matter how small.'"

Sakura couldn't help it. She giggled. Naruto had learned to match Ryoushi-sensei's tone almost perfectly. He'd clearly had taken Naruto in hand. Her eyes went to Sasuke, who looked more than a little irritated. She knew that he definitely was having a hard time of it. He and Ejiki-sensei just didn't get along. Sasuke normally was sullen, but Sakura had noticed in the few times they had met outside of work that he seemed to be much more irritable and was willing to blow-up over the smallest of things.

"I didn't think you thought much at all." She heard Sasuke mutter, but thankfully Naruto didn't. She didn't want a fight this early in the morning. They had been fairly friendly recently, a marked difference from when they were in school. Of course, that might have had something to do with them rarely being in the same room as each other. This was, if she really thought about it, kind of odd for a supposed 'team' of genin.

"Hey, I've got an idea!" She said, breaking up the angry staring match that had broken out between the two. Thankfully, that distracted the two. "Why don't we get together to train once a week or so? I mean, this is the first time we've really gotten together as a team to do training, right? Maybe we should do it more often," She suggested.

Naruto shrugged, but Sakura thought she saw Sasuke's eyes light up. "Heh. I suppose I could help you two along. Of course, you'd have to pay me with the material learned from your teachers." He said with contempt. Sakura wasn't fooled however. Sasuke wanted to train with someone, even if was his teammates. His teacher was apparently ignoring him as far as that stuff went. And after all, they were the ones learning new things, rather than him. He could only get so far by himself, even if he wouldn't admit it.

"Good to see you taking some initiative. However, I should have heard something like that right from the start," came the rough, gravely voice of Ibiki-sensei from out of the mist. They all jumped, even Sasuke, who had to windmill his arms to keep from falling off of his perch. Ibiki-sensei was always like that, appearing out of #&#&ing nowhere.

"Uh…Err…Good morning, Ibiki-sensei! She managed with something almost like a smile, concealing her irritation. Ibiki was always grumpy in the mornings. Well, in general he was always sort of grumpy, but especially so in the morning. This was surprising, considering most of the rest of T&A were morning people. Except Itami. She definitely wasn't a morning person. Or an evening person for that matter.

Ibiki snorted, "I suppose it was a good morning, right up to the point when I heard you brats arguing. Together for less than five minutes and already yelling at each other. If that's all you three have to offer, today's exercise is going to wipe the floor with you. Pity. I was expecting a good display from you three, considering the positive reports I've been getting from my subordinates."

Sakura didn't quite know how Ibiki did it, but whenever she was addressed by him, she found herself wanting to cower, or at least look the other way. It made her angry. She wasn't a three year old with her hand caught in the cookie jar. Admittedly, he generally didn't talk to her unless he caught her doing something wrong (or worse, something stupid), so he just sort of always seemed to radiate disapproval. He did it even better than her mother, who spent about 90% of her day disapproving of her. And she had to work at it. Ibiki just sort of did it naturally.

"Alright, brats, gather round. I'm going to give you your marching orders, and then sit back and watch the fireworks," He said, and sat down on a nearby rock by the lake. She and Naruto quietly sat down in front of him, and were shortly joined by the still pouting Sasuke. She almost hiccupped with joy when he sat down beside her, but swallowed it. Ibiki-sensei definitely wouldn't appreciate it as much as she did.

Ibiki-sensei, as usual, spent the first few minutes just looking at them, appearing to scrutinize almost every inch of them from top to bottom. Sakura still didn't know what he was looking at (or for, in the other case), but she still got the feeling that when he was done that he was distinctly unsatisfied. He never said anything to them about it, which made Sakura feel worried. But then again, he never seemed particularly angry either. It was one of Ibiki-sensei's odd habits. It was like he was judging them against something (well in this case it was likely _someone) _in his head. But what (or who) exactly, Sakura was afraid to ask. She didn't even want to think what went on inside Ibiki-sensei's head.

"It has been nearly a month, and it seems that you've met the expectations of the three men I've assigned to you," He quirked an eyebrow at Sasuke, who looked up in mild confusion, "Even you. Ejiki tells me that you're as much of a whiny brat as he expected," Sakura saw Sasuke's hands tighten, but the explosion she expected didn't come. She didn't think that even Sasuke could take on Ibiki. Hell, it'd probably be suicide if all three of them tried it, "Still, they have been suitably impressed," he let that sink in for a moment, and Sakura saw a smile creep onto Naruto's face, "But. That doesn't mean I'm impressed."

Ibiki-sensei's voice had deepened and darkened. "I prize one thing and one thing only in a ninja. Not strength, not cunning, not an impressive list of jutsu. I prize intelligence. As I said before, you should have thought about working together earlier," Ibiki-sensei's voice began to get louder, as if he was working himself up, "You are a team! Just because you don't interact with each other daily doesn't mean you can't work together! Being a ninja is about using the resources you have for the best effect! Think, brats!" he finished, with a scowl on his face.

Sakura was both irritated and confused. Where had this come from? Why the hell this sudden emphasis and lecture on teamwork? They'd been pushing hard since day one improving themselves. In fact, that's what Ibiki had essentially ordered them to do. While yes, perhaps they should have thought about training together, they'd all been busy with their own things (well, except for Sasuke, who was bored out of his mind) that they'd scarcely had the time to even think about anything other than themselves. Was Ibiki being stupidly unrealistic? That wasn't like him at all.

"Well, then, I suppose we should get down to business. Today you will undertake a training exercise in order to gauge how much you've learned so far. I say learned for a reason. I don't expect to see improvement for months yet. I don't expect you to be able to finish this, in fact. Give me a good, show, however, and I might be persuaded to do things like this more often," his face darkened. "You don't want to know what will happen if you don't give me a good show."

Sakura probably wasn't threatened as much by that as she would have been a few weeks ago. Ibiki-sensei was scary, that was the truth, but he was like any other person in the end. She'd seen enough of him in the past month to know that he was just as likely to put on a mask and act angry, as to be actually angry. Maybe even more likely. He really just liked to play around with people's heads and see what would happen. All of the members were like that, really, except maybe for Enjintou. She still hadn't figured out why the perpetually nervous man was in T&I unit.

"Your mission is deceptively simple," He hefted a small scroll and showed it to them, "You must get this scroll from here to the West Gate before noon," he smiled, never a good sign, "I've asked a few…friends to participate in the exercise. They will be playing as your opposing force. Some of them will be T&I members, some will be people you'll be unfamiliar with. They know to go a bit easy on you, so this isn't a complete turkey shoot."

His face turned more serious. "A couple rules, basic common sense applies. We're in the village, which means keep the collateral damage to a minimum. I'm not expecting, or wanting for that matter, any flashy explosions or techniques. You shouldn't have been taught any of those yet, and I want to see you use what you've learned from my subordinates, not some super secret technique you've learned on your own time. No one else should get hurt, except maybe you, and your direct opponents, if you can even manage that. Also, do your best to keep your mission under wraps. I've notified the Hokage I intend to run this exercise, but this doesn't mean that everyone will know. If other ninja see people dueling in the streets, it'll become complicated real fast. And in a mission, the more complicated something gets, the likelier things will go south. All hail Lord Murphy, and all that junk."

He shrugged. "Anything else goes, really. Keep things interesting, keep bystanders safe, and at least try to get the mission completed. Questions?" he asked.

Sakura quickly ran all his directions through her head, and tried to find a catch or maybe some hidden clue or hint. She thought she'd had picked up his first one, but she wasn't sure if there were any others. As he had said, this mission was deceptively simple. Did that mean his directions were as well? Itami-sensei was always up front and brutally honest when it came to her expectations. She had gotten used to that. Ibiki was a completely different game. "…Umm…What happens if others do get involved?" she ventured.

He raised an eyebrow. "Good question. Deal with it in the best manner possible. This mission won't stop because of something like that, but if you and your opponent have to stop fighting to explain, you certainly won't be penalized. Though watch your opponent if you do try. They may not be as honorable as you," he grinned. She almost groaned. Itami-sensei was definitely involved, wasn't she?

"What about collateral damage?" Sasuke asked. Sakura thought it was a rather odd question coming from him.

Ibiki-sensei laughed, slightly maliciously, it seemed to Sakura. "I'll leave the paperwork to you. You haven't done that one yet, have you? Ejiki will love teaching you how to do that one, eh? A pile of forms the size of my head. For each damaged buildings"

Sakura winced as she saw Sasuke's fist clench hard enough this time that she heard the knuckles crack. Ibiki really seemed to be going out of his way to antagonize him, today. She wondered why. Sasuke was, after all, the powerhouse of the group. His taijutsu and ninjutsu were far ahead of both hers and certainly Naruto's. And yet he was sitting around being taught paperwork. She wondered why. Ibiki-sensei did everything for a reason, or so she thought (And hoped for that matter. He didn't seem that crazy, but she knew that some ninja were).

"No other questions? Alright, good. You've got twenty minutes to prepare yourselves. After that, the opposing force will begin to move, and if you're still here, you'll likely be sitting ducks. Good luck." And with that, Ibiki walked back off into the fog and was gone from sight in seconds.

She didn't look at the other two for a moment, and just sat there, thinking. After a moment, she voiced her thoughts in a quiet voice, "I think there are two goals to this exercise. The first is the obvious one. He wants to test us on what we've learned, and more importantly how we apply it. The second is…I think, how well we can work together. It's the only explanation for his weird angry lecture at the beginning. I think he was dropping a hint on the best way to complete the mission."

Naruto slowly nodded at her in what she hoped was understanding and not just blind agreement. Sasuke however, still looked to be angry over Ibiki-sensei's not-so-subtle jabs at him, and didn't appear to be listening at all. She sighed, and rolled her eyes in irritation. The boys barely ever paid attention to her unless she did something drastic. "Oy, You listening to a #&#&ing word, I'm saying, Sasuke? We've got a mission to plan here."

Sasuke's eyes widened at the unexpectedly harsh words, and seemed to return to the real world with a rush, which privately frustrated Sakura. How come he would pay attention when she cursed, but not any time else? It wasn't the response she wanted at all. The boy was frustrating as hell to be in love with.

"We don't have any clue who our opponents are, or their capabilities. Some of them may be from T&I, but we need to have a plan that can deal with just about anything that can be thrown at us. We've got about three miles to cover to get to the West Gate. Moving fast, we can probably get there well under an hour. Hell, I'm sure either of you could get there well under half an hour." Both of them nodded. "But I don't think you could manage it dodging attacks all the way, especially if Ibiki's brought chuunin or even jonin ninja along." She explained.

"I kinda doubt that's what Ibiki-sensei wants, anyway," Naruto added, "He wants it to be interesting, right? We need to impress him…so…so…" he trailed off, trying exactly to figure out why they'd actually want to impress him, at least that's what Sakura assumed.

"So he'll train us even more," Sasuke said, interest now fully peaked and insults (mostly) forgotten. "He said if we did well, he'd give us more things like this. Practical applications. Not just," he face twisted in a scowl, "paperwork. We need to win this."

Sakura was glad that her teammates seem to understand the seriousness of the mission. That didn't, however, help them come up with a plan. Even if they worked together, she doubted they'd be able to do much against a single chuunin. And Ibiki-sensei supposedly had them up against a team of chunin AND jonin. "We need a plan. And a good one. We don't necessarily need to win, but we need to come close. We need a method to get to the West Gate. Probably undetected. I doubt we can just brute force our way through."

Sasuke scowled, but nodded in reluctant agreement. Naruto looked thoughtful, and Sakura wondered briefly about that. The past few weeks she had seen even less of Naruto than she had of Sasuke, but she felt like she knew him at least a bit better than she had before. She'd seen him work with Ryoushi-sensei on occasion and the stuff he took from the library when they occasionally ran into each other there. Fox wasn't quite the idiot everyone thought he was, and he was certainly a better ninja than a lot of people gave him credit for. That didn't make his lame attempts to impress her any more bearable, but certainly she had more patience for him than she had had a month ago.

He nodded to himself, as if making up his mind, but seemed to be unwilling to speak. She rolled her eyes. Now was not the time for that sort of thing. "Do you have an idea, Fox?"

He looked a bit uncertain for a moment, but then simply pushed forward in typical Naruto fashion, "Well, Ryoushi-sensei has been teaching me this technique and a bunch of its variations for the past couple of weeks, and I think it might let us get the scroll to the gate," he looked a little nervous, "I haven't quite mastered it yet, though, which is the problem."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Really? What's the technique?"

* * *

Sasuke did not approve of this plan. Not in the least. It relied on, of all people, Naruto to perform a technique he wasn't even sure he'd mastered. It was adding yet another chance for things to go terribly wrong. They weren't even sure if the technique would even fool the enemy, even if Fox got it right. They should have just sprinted for the gate, and gone all out. They probably wouldn't have succeeded, but they would probably have at least gotten close.

…He had to admit however, if the plan did work…well, it'd be an overwhelming victory for their team. Naruto and Sakura had hammered it out quickly and intelligently. He sort of expected it from Sakura, who could be smart when she wasn't trying to be sexy, but from Naruto, it had been completely surprising. He'd felt…sort of jealous. And angry. He was the best of the year, the smartest, the strongest, and the most advanced. But he'd been relegated to the background ever since they'd be assigned to a genin team.

Which was the reason this had to succeed. He needed to show Ibiki that he wasn't just some basic genin. If he did, maybe he'd switch instructors. He wouldn't mind going with Ryoushi-sensei, even if it meant partnering up with Naruto. Hell, even the nervous little bastard would probably be better than Ejiki. He had to make this mission succeed. For the sake of his goal.

He dropped the little stone that he'd been carrying into an alleyway as inconspicuously as possible, checking for enemies above and below as he did. That had been the first part of the plan. With that done, he climbed the nearest roof and charged towards the gate at full speed. It was time to cause as much chaos as possible.

He ignored the small cracking noise and the brief cloud of smoke that came from the alley behind him.

* * *

Naruto wasn't sure if he was having good luck or bad. He had two roles in the plan. The first was as complete as he could manage. The second was to cause as big a distraction as possible. They had no clue who the enemies were, where they were, or what they could do. If things went well, it wouldn't really matter. If things didn't go according to plan…well, they were pretty much royally screwed.

Five minutes after leaving the training area, he had picked up company chasing him. He knew there were two of them, and that one was big and muscular, and the other was not. That was about it. They took turns harrying him; one would come forward every few minutes and shower him with a light storm of kunai or shuriken, then would drop back and let the other take a turn. They really hadn't hit him at all, but that was more of a statement of their skill than of his. They were herding him, quite effectively, he noticed, away from the gate and toward the outskirts of the town near the North Gate.

He smirked. If they wanted to take this chase into town, he was fine with that. He knew almost every inch of the town, from the slums to the deserted Uchiha compound. He knew every nick, cranny, and possible hiding place in the whole village. If he was lucky, he'd be able to keep his pursers busy for a long, long time. Long enough for the plan to succeed, at least. He was confident of that, at least.

Unfortunately, at that point both of his pursuers picked up speed and began closing. He could see them signing something at each other, but couldn't attempt to read it and run at the same time. But suddenly the smaller one sprung high in the air, over Naruto's head, and landed a few meters in front of him. Naruto was going too fast to changed direction quickly, but managed to curl himself into a ball. He slammed into the man with all the force he could muster and they both went sprawling.

It hadn't done much damage, though. The man, who was wearing some sort of stealth get-up so Naruto couldn't tell who he was, had obviously been prepared for such a move, and had braced himself accordingly. Naruto's eyes widened and he scrambled to his feet as fast as he could. The only goal the man had had was to stop Naruto, if only for a few seconds. And when he felt the hand grab his neck from behind and lift him off his feet, he knew that it had been successful.

He abruptly found himself flying through the air and into a nearby tree, which knocked the breath out of him. Coughing and gagging while trying to regain his breath, he quickly got to his feet and scrambled up the tree. The big guy certainly wasn't pulling his punches. He needed to get out of the man's range quickly before his found himself beaten to a pulp. He might be able to take the smaller of the two, at least for a little while, but the bigger man outweighed him by a good three or four times. He needed a plan or a distraction to deal with him.

The smaller of the two assailants was quick on the uptake and ran straight up the tree after him, something that Naruto really wished he knew how to do. He managed to make his jump to the next tree before than man caught up to him, but the trees would only give him cover for so long. The rapidly approaching town would give him more cover, but only at the expense of the cover he had at the moment. There would be a wide stretch of land somewhere ahead where he would be completely exposed.

And the man behind him wasn't making anything easier. He was clearly as much at home in the trees as Naruto was, and had the additional advantage of the weird sticking ability that he had used to climb the tree in the first place. Naruto often had to spend vital moments regaining his footing from a slip or just a bad landing. His pursuer just kept coming, and there was an ever-shrinking distance between the two of them that had Naruto very worried. He could see the larger man running on the ground below them out of the corner of his eye. Sooner or later this would likely end badly.

And of course, as soon as he thought that, he heard a distinctive ugly cracking noise as he landed a particularly long jump. He managed to land on his feet after the branch broke, but he just barely dodged the large man's grab by ducking. The leg sweep that followed was apparently unexpected by the man, though, and he tumbled to the ground. Naruto dodged the other man, who had jumped from the tree and tried to grab him from behind, and once again sprinted for the town, trying to run a bit more towards the gate. He needed to keep them thinking he was going for the gate, after all.

For several moments he seemed to be clear of them, which was more than slightly troubling. If he didn't keep them distracted, that would increase the likelihood that something would go wrong with the main part of the plan. They needed to keep as many of their opponents as busy as possible. However, it was also possible that they simply were trying a new tactic. Or following him without being seen. Either of those options was only slightly less worrisome than them abandoning the chase. He was hard pressed with just trying to outrun them.

Houses were beginning to appear, and the path that he was on was smoothing out into something like a road. That was good. He was almost into the city. The fact that he had less freedom of movement and the need to prevent damage to property and people was not. However, his pursuers also were under similar constraints. Overall, it was a bit more advantageous for him. Well, if he discounted the fact that there were two of them and they were both way better ninja that he was.

This time in the morning, the town was essentially quiet. Ninja were certainly awake and moving about, but that still meant that most of the town was still empty. Which meant that he could sprint at full speed down the road without bowling over civies left and right. Which meant that he could keep a better eye out for his pursuers. Which was the reason why he crashed into an obstacle (it was softer than a wall. Was it a person?) he didn't expect, sending him skidding painfully across the road into a building.

He climbed to his feet quickly, grumbling mildly. He certainly had been falling and running into things a lot this morning. Before he dashed off, he looked to see what he had run into. As he expected, it was a person. They had also managed to climb back to their feet, though a bit less steady than Naruto had managed. Unexpectedly, it was someone he knew.

"You bastard! What the hell was that for?" Inuzuka Kiba gasped out, still trying to get his breath back. He was helped to his feet by two others Naruto recognized, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino.

Just as Naruto opened his mouth to answer, the larger of Naruto's pursuers appeared out of the fog with a larger-than-normal fist aimed at Naruto's position. He goggled for a moment at the arm's bizarre proportions, but managed to dodge just in time by rolling to the side.

The fist impacted the ground and created a sizable crater, which Naruto was pretty sure was against the rules. That punch would have pulverized him if it would have hit him, and moreover, they were supposed to be limiting damage to the city! Hadn't they heard about the rules?

"Run Now. Talk Later!" he shouted, grabbing Kiba's arm and sprinting further into the town.

* * *

He was almost surprised the kids hadn't made a mad dash for the gate, to be honest. Sasuke and Naruto were both hotheads who were easily nudged into doing something impulsive. Which wasn't necessarily bad, but it certainly wasn't good either. It at least helped keep things interesting. Unpredictable and angry people were always far more fun to watch.

He wasn't sure quite what Ibiki had in mind for this exercise, though. He had gathered a small group of skilled ninja to take on the students, but had only given the vague order to take them on, rather than something more specific like "Make sure they lose," "Have them fight all the way, but eventually win," or even "publicly humiliate them in front of the entire village." It was certainly an odd way to run a training exercise. Did he want them to win, lose, or learn some bizarre lesson about teamwork or being ninja? He was betting on the latter, though the delivery needed a bit of work.

He scanned his area again. The fog was problematic, as it blocked his vision to some degree, but the sun was beginning to come out and burn it off. On occasion, he could make out the Fox brat and his two pursuers duking it out on the outskirts of town two or three miles away, but anything further than that was shrouded by the fog. Not that he expected anything much further out, to be honest. He was smack dab in front of the West Gate, after all. Things should be coming closer to him, not getting further away.

He shifted his vision to a closer focus, and scanned the streets below him. He wasn't expecting anything particularly subtle from the kids, but, hey, why get beaten for a stupid reason like not paying attention? That wouldn't be fun at all. The streets were getting busier as the sun got higher, but even in the center of town there were only a few people wandering around. Most were doing morning shopping and he saw a few ninja haggling with Meikou the smith over a set of kunai. He watched a perfectly ordinary girl buying groceries for a few moments, before something dodging among the rooftops a mile ahead caught his eye.

Shifting focus once again, he smiled when he realized that it was Sasuke. This would be perfect. It'd make up for the past several weeks. He'd give the kid a run for his money, and then maybe then, he would finally see the error of his ways.

Or maybe he'd just keep complaining about it. Either way, it was going to be _fun._ Which was the important thing, after all.

In one smooth motion that most people could never imagine him making, Ejiki stood, pulled back on his bowstring, aimed, and let loose an arrow.

* * *

The first attack came out of nowhere, or at least that's what it seemed like to Sasuke. He had headed straight for the gate after dropping off the package, but despite that, he hadn't picked up any pursuers, at least ones that he could see. Hell, he was only about a mile away from the gate, and it seemed like there weren't any that he couldn't see, either. This mission was turning out to be a bigger joke than all of Naruto's stupid pranks put together.

He had just about been ready to simply turn around and grab the scroll when…something came speeding out of nowhere and plowed into the concrete roof that he was running on barely three feet ahead of him. He managed to dodge it, despite the short notice, but almost lost his footing and had to skid to a stop on the roof. He huddled behind a chimney for a few seconds, taking deep breaths in order to calm a suddenly racing heart. Whatever that was could have easily killed him. It was good that he had dodged it, or he would have died probably without even realizing it.

He peered carefully back at the thing sticking out of the concrete. He couldn't quite tell what it was, as most of it was buried, but it was some sort of wooden stick. Probably. The thing had hit with enough force that any normal wood should have instantly splintered into a million pieces. He gulped at that sudden chilling thought. If it had, he would have probably died instantly from the shrapnel. Or at least been seriously injured and probably blinded. Even small things, if traveling at high enough speeds, tended to be extremely fatal.

Where had it come from, though? He'd not felt any killing intent at all, and the ninja would have had to launch something like that nearby to penetrate that deeply, even if it was enhanced with chakra. He thought it might be some sort of short throwing spear, but even those had a relatively short range and he should have been able to see the thrower. The city offered a lot of places to hide for a possible assassin, but to throw a spear that accurately required some sort of line of sight. Or a Hyuuga. But a Hyuuga wouldn't use a spear. Some of them disdained even using kunai and shuriken, for goodness sake.

He studied the stick for a few more seconds before shrugging. Maybe it had been a lucky shot. Maybe there had been a hidden spotter passing targeting information to another assailant. It would be an awkward and inefficient arrangement, but one that could probably work simply because it wouldn't be expected. And it kept both of the pursuers away from harm. That sounded about right. It fit the scene at least.

Which meant that if he ran in a suitable chaotic fashion, the spotter wouldn't be able to pass accurate targeting information. He'd be in the clear till he reached the gate, barring other enemies, of course. He'd be the first one there. He allowed himself a small smirk. He knew that just rushing straight in would be the way to go. He hoped his teammates' plan collapsed around them.

He dashed to the left of his hiding place, and ran about six feet before abruptly turning and dashing straight for a few more, before beginning a pattern he knew would confuse the spotter. He made it maybe twenty feet before another spear seemed to suddenly grow out of the concrete in front of him. He had just made a turn, and was off balance, so he was unable to dodge it. His leg hit it, thankfully not hard enough to break something, but certainly hard enough to make him trip. He managed to turn the trip into a relatively smooth roll, but by the time he got to his feet, another spear had planted itself into the ground in front of him.

The next few minutes blurred together into a desperate weave of dodges and jukes. Every movement he made seemed to be anticipated and a spear would appear rooted in the ground in front of him. Every time he thought he had come up with a way of escaping and pressing forward it was like he was greeting with a wall. There were several incredibly close shaves, including one that had whizzed close enough past his head that he had felt his hair part. After the first minute he gave up any thought of advancing and simply concentrated on living.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was most likely less than five minutes, he managed to find cover and the rain of spears seemed to stop. He gulped down air, desperately trying to force breath into lungs that seemed reluctant to keep it in. When he finally managed to recover enough that the black receded from his vision, his stomach sank as he absorbed his surroundings. He was back exactly where he had started. He had been expertly herded and driven back. It was even more terrifying than having simply been driven away.

"You know," a lazy voice said from above him, "That was a good display of dodging."

Sasuke almost jumped back out of cover, but at the last second remembered his peril, and merely pulled out a kunai. Above him, sitting on the chimney, was a tall, lanky ninja with pale, almost white hair. Sasuke stared confusedly at the man for a moment, as he felt no hostility from the man. In fact, that man was reading a book, and was apparently so absorbed, that his face was close enough that Sasuke couldn't see it. Was he an enemy, or just a bystander?

"But…I think you're taking this a bit too seriously. I think you should lighten up," the man said, dropping the book to look at Sasuke curiously.

Sasuke felt his stomach drop even further. He suddenly remembered the plan and the feeling actually managed to worsen. This was the absolute worse thing that could happen. They were so screwed.

The man on the roof was a ninja by the name of Hatake Kakashi.

* * *

"Anko-nee! Anko-nee! Where's Iruka-sensei today? Why isn't he here?" asked one of the little brats. Admittedly one of the less irritating ones, but still a brat.

"He's off helping with a training mission so he's not coming today," she answered distractedly, trying to get a jacket on a small boy who was refusing to stand still. Outdoor kunai and shuriken throwing exercises were always irritating with the little ones. And she was absolutely terrified of the day when they gave them sharp ones. The world wouldn't be safe. She had already pulled dull ones out of ears, noses, and in one case that she'd rather forget, some boy's butt. She still hadn't the foggiest how that had happened.

She hated Ibiki.

"Alright, you brats," she announced to the class of squirming and very impatient seven year olds, "We're heading out to do throwing practice. If I catch one of you throwing them at each other, I'll hang you from a tree by your feet naked for the rest of the period. Don't think it's an idle threat, either. Remember what I did to Kazu?"

The class gave a collective shudder, especially the boy mentioned, who went white as a sheet and started mumbling things under his breath. She hadn't quite cured him of that, yet, but she was working on it. Kids shouldn't be that afraid of snakes anyway.

"If we get done early, however, I'll show you all how to unlock all the drawers in Iruka-sensei's desk. The person who comes up with the best thing to stick in there afterwards will get bonus points." She added, thoroughly pleased when the class cheered and rushed out the door.

Some things made it worthwhile, however.

* * *

Its yet again been a long time, hasn't it? I plead the usual, life, the universe, and everything conspired against me. I won't go into the dirty details, but sometimes life gives you lemons and it takes a long time to get something like lemonade. And sometimes it's still sour. But oh well. You drink it anyway.

Chapter Notes: Overall, I'm well pleased with this chapter. I was a bit puzzled how to get started on it, but I went over the reviews (something I do when I get massive writer's block. You guys don't know how much reading your comments helps me sometimes. I really do love you guys) and a reviewer for last chapter made a comment asking about what Sakura's parent's thought about how things were going…And I figured something like that made a good opener. Ibiki came out a bit forced, I thought compared to the last chapter, but I think I've addressed the reasons for it a bit in this chapter, and he'll get some POV next chapter. Sasuke also came across as whiny and overconfident here which was kind of what I was going for, but still felt a bit odd compared to last chapter. The Trio are friend_lier,_ not friends yet, so I'm trying to work that in. With limited success, probably. Also: just random: why didn't Sasuke know about Kakashi? That always seemed odd to me. So I changed it. Oh well.

Also, random comment: Please don't complain about my odd and inconsistent censorship. I know its weird and a lot of you don't like it, but I'm uncomfortable writing some words in a fandom where younger children do read quite a bit. If you really want cursing read some of my other stuff. _ It happens there in its full glory. Here I'll bleep out what I consider particularly improper. I'll trust you adults can fill them in. There are more subtle ways around the issue, but this is how I choose to deal with it.

Next chapter, Sasuke will battle Kakashi (Told ya I'd bring in some more Canon people!), Naruto will probably continue to run like a little girl, Sakura will get mildly beat upon, and the whole thing will end in a relatively unspectacular fashion. Or maybe not. You'll just have to wait and read. See ya next time!


	10. Actions Reactions

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I have no intention of profiting from this story.

Chapter 10 – Actions/Reactions

Things were not going well for Sakura.

Not that that was particularly surprising. The plan that she and Naruto had quickly hammered together had put her at a natural disadvantage. Well, all three of them were at a marked disadvantage in this exercise, considering they were fighting more senior ninja. But both Sasuke and Naruto had far greater physical ability than she did. Unfortunately for her, that was what their plan called for. Itami-sensei had been working her to the bone to improve those abilities, but that kind of training took time to complete. She wasn't going to become a muscle head in two or three weeks, for goodness sake! Her greatest strength had always been her intelligence. That certainly wasn't on #&#&ing display today.

And speaking of Itami-sensei, the #&#ing woman was right behind her. From experience, she knew that was the last place she wanted her teacher to be. She had only seriously sparred with her once or twice, but that had been more than enough to learn that her teacher was a vicious knife fighter with absolutely no scruples when it came to causing pain. If Sakura let her get into range… well, Ibiki-sensei had said there were rules against violence, but there was no guarantee Itami had paid attention. Or cared, for that matter. After all, Itami-sensei could simply heal her up afterwards. It wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened.

Dodging another thrown kunai, she desperately clambered up and over a small wall into another small field. Itami and her partner had driven her well away from the West Gate and into the agricultural districts of the village. It was a place of sparse cover and wide (for a ninja village) open spaces. The only thing that had kept her alive so far was that some of the fields were mature enough to create hiding spaces. She'd spent ten minutes skulking around a corn field, and another fifteen in a grain field. The farmers wouldn't thank her, but the fields had provided her brief moments to catch her breath and to attempt to plot an escape. Any idea of retaliation had been discarded a long time ago.

She wasn't as lucky this time. There were no convenient fields to hide in here. She'd stumbled into a livestock farm by the looks of it. She could smell the manure from the rather rickety barn and could see a small herd of cattle huddling together in a corner of the field. No help here. And she was pretty sure livestock was including in the 'no casualties' rule. She might get away with stomping across a field or two, but an animal was a valuable piece of property in a ninja village.

She did her best to sprint across the small farmstead as quickly as possible. Perhaps the next one would offer a better opportunity, but she couldn't keep running forever. Itami and her partner had already almost driven her to the wall. There were maybe two or three more farmsteads and then she would hit No Man's Land. And No Man's Land would lack even the small bits of cover the livestock farm had provided. If they cornered her there she'd be #&#&ing screwed.

She desperately needed to change directions and gain maneuvering room. If either of her opponents cornered her, she would simply have no chance of escaping. And without a doubt, she knew they could corner her at any time. She hadn't seen Itami's partner for several minutes, but she knew he was definitely watching. He only popped up when she tried to escape or maneuver. With him as an unknown in the equation, her options were very limited. While on the move and without adequate preparation before hand, she simply didn't have enough to work with!

She leapt over the hedgerow that separated the livestock farm from the next farm over and continued running. She cursed quietly to herself. This farm was nearly the same as the last. The only difference was that were pigs instead of cattle. Nothing usable here, either, and there were only one or two more farmsteads left. She considered attempting to break left or right again, but reluctantly discarded the idea and continued to run. There was nothing here that she could use to her advantage, and she'd be easily boxed in, yet again.

She glanced back and was just in time to dodge another kunai thrown by her teacher. Itami-sensei seemed to be smirking, which made Sakura's stomach churn with uneasiness. It was more than possible that she and her partner had a plan. Itami-sensei knew the area just as well or better than Sakura did (Not that Sakura was any great expert. She had a few distant memories of visiting a farm out here as a field trip in the early years of the academy). Itami-sensei also had to know that this chase was entering its final stages. Unless Sakura could come up with some way to turn the tables.

She clambered over a fence into another farmstead. This one appeared to be mostly deserted and uncared for. There was wheat growing in its small field, but it was scraggly and water-starved. Rusted farm implements were simply scattered about and the wall on the far side was falling over. With a stab of fear, Sakura realized that she could see a vast clearing through a large hole in the fence. Most likely, it was No Man's Land. She had reached the end of the line as far as running and hiding went.

She cast about blindly for anything she could use, and spotted the dilapidated farm house. Without a second thought, she sped towards it. It wasn't much, but she had to do something. It was one of Itami's cardinal rules: if there is nothing better available, use anything and everything around you to achieve your objectives. Just as she reached the door, she turned and saw Itami leaping the fence behind her. Sakura threw open the door, noted the fact that the door made a terrible creaking noise, and scrambled inside the house.

Being inside the house meant that she was practically cornered, which certainly wasn't to her advantage. However, it opened up a few possibilities for at least resisting. The problem was choosing the one that would buy her the most time. Barricading herself inside was out of the question. The house was simply too large and unfamiliar for that to be effective. Itami and her partner could likely find a way in (or simply make their own way in) and catch her. Simply hiding would likely cost her pursuers more time, but would still end in them catching her. Property damage was forbidden so something like luring them in and then setting the place ablaze or something similar were out. Sneaking out a different entrance to try to get a head start heading a different direction was both an attractive and an entirely feasible course of action, and if Itami-sensei's partner wasn't such an #&#&ing unknown, it would probably be the best course of action.

That left some sort of ambush as the only fairly viable plan. If she could injure or (heaven help her if she managed it) somehow take out Itami-sensei, she would be in a far better position. The problem with that, of course, was that it was #&#&ing impossible. The bloody woman was far better than she was by probably a factor of 40 or 50. She would need a fair amount of surprise to even have the chance of hurting her. Considering that Itami would have to be a moron to not expect an ambush, she would have to be obscenely lucky.

However, it was also the only real option she had. She didn't exactly have all day to sit around and think about it either. Itami-sensei might have paused outside to assess the situation or confer with her partner, but she clearly had the advantage. Every moment that Itami-sensei waited gave Sakura a better chance of doing something that would improve her own position. Itami-sensei was not stupid. Far, far from it, in fact. She'd be inside and ready to tear this place apart as soon as possible. Sakura had to think of a plan fast.

The inside of the house was unremarkable except for the fact that it was slowly falling apart. She was standing in a small entranceway that led to a small living room and a kitchen. A door that might lead to a bathroom and a set of stairs that lead to the second floor ran along the left side of the house. On the right were the dusty kitchen and a few chairs. She moved toward the stairs on the left almost instinctively. If nothing else, being on the second floor would give her a few more precious moments to think of a plan when Itami did come through the door. Unless she chose to come through an upstairs window or something similar. She was a ninja after all. Sakura needed to think out of the box if she wanted to…well, winning was probably completely impossible, but she could at least make a good final showing of herself.

She ascended the stairs as quickly and quietly as she could, and cautiously examined the upstairs. There were no signs that Itami had managed to find a way into the upstairs rooms and the windows were all too small to be used as entrances (for a normal person, anyway, and she hadn't seen her teacher use any familiars, either), which was good. The windows were probably a safety measure, considering the house was essentially directly beside the wall. So there was no means other that massive property damage to get in from this level. She also hadn't heard the door open yet. That was a bit troubling. She was grateful for the additional time to come up with something, but that meant that Itami was also likely planning something.

The upstairs contained a large bedroom, a small bedroom, and what Sakura assumed had been a workroom. Inside the workroom, she was more than delighted to find a number small sharp tools, wire, oil of some sort, and other odds and ends. It wasn't a lot, but she was strapped for time, and she needed ever advantage she could get. With her brain in high gear, she quickly began assembling what she needed.

Using the wire and some of the cord that she carried on her, she quickly strung up the sharp tools across the stairwell as an impromptu barrier/obstacle. Not that it would do much if anything at all, even against a civilian, but that, of course, wasn't the point. The point was to get Itami to be thinking about possible traps on the stairwell, and hopefully about ones above the stairwell. Sakura wanted her to be looking up not down. At the top of the stairs, Sakura spread the oil on the top three stairs. Thankfully the windows were small and the house was dark, so the oil wasn't as noticeable as it could have been. Well, she hoped it wasn't, at least. For a final touch, she prepared one of the small genjutsu she knew. It wasn't much, just an attention attractor. She hoped she'd be able to activate it without Itami noticing.

The plan was to have Itami concentrate on the tools as she walked up the stairs, and then have her slip on the oil. Hopefully that would cause her to fall down the stairs. Sakura would then jump down onto her and hopefully force her to surrender. It would be even better if Itami managed to injure herself somehow during the fall. Some bruised ribs, a broken ankle, or maybe even some sort of stabbing wound from falling through the sharp objects would be a nice bonus as well. It was a weak plan, Sakura knew, and one that required Itami to act exactly how she wanted her to. Any plan was better than no plan, though.

She twitched as she heard a quiet creaking noise from the downstairs. She strained to hear what was producing it. After a moment, she smiled. It was the door opening. Itami was finally coming into the farmhouse. Sakura scurried into a little nook she had found between the wall and the top of the stairwell. It wasn't much cover, but it had a clear view of the top of the stairs and hid at least part of her from view if she crouched. If (well, more like when) Itami made it past her simple trap, she'd be clearly visible and in a lot of trouble. However, that was really no different from when she'd been running for her life outside. This way, she'd at least kept them distracted for a few more minutes. Which, she supposed with a small sigh, was the entire point of her running all the way out here to begin with.

She heard the faintest sounds of footsteps from the first floor as Itami (well, Sakura assumed it was Itami) searched for her. After a few moments, Sakura thought she heard a sigh, and then she began to hear the footsteps begin to get closer. She tensed up a bit, and withdrew one of her kunai from its holster on her leg. She would have to strike quickly if Itami slipped. If she wasn't hurt badly, her teacher would quickly recover, and then Sakura would back to square one.

Just as she heard Itami take her first step up the stairwell, she realized with an odd and painful drop in her stomach that someone was crouched next to her. He had been there for several moments, though for how long she wasn't entirely sure. Her head mechanically turned to face the Blue-Man. He was studying her trap with an expressionless look on his blue face, though one of his blue hands was holding a small knife to her throat. She supposed the game was up.

"How'd you manage to get in? Were you in here before me, or did you find some other way in?" she whispered after a few quiet moments.

"Attic. Part of the roof is missing on the far side of the house, so I was able to slip in through there. You missed that as a possible entrance. Not too bad a mistake, however. Even experienced ninja sometimes forget to look up. Humans don't automatically consider danger to come from that direction." he replied calmly.

She nodded careful, mindful of the knife. "I suppose, I fail, then?"

He shrugged, "I'll have to talk it over with Itami. I can't say you did particularly well, but this exercise wasn't really in your favor, was it?" She shrugged; battles seldom were in anyone's favor, really. Iruka-sensei had always been fond of that expression at the Academy, "So we'll probably take that into account. You managed not to panic, and at least seemed to be trying to think, which is better than some genin can manage when being pursued by superior forces. And your impromptu trap isn't terrible. Basic, yes. Easy to see through, yes. But a decent use of the short amount of time and limited resources. You wouldn't have caught Itami. An unwary genin or unskilled chunin might have made the mistake though. If you had the chakra capacity, you might have considered using some sort of field-type genjutsu to create some sort of passive effect."

"I had something like that ready to go," she admitted, and he nodded in appreciation.

Sakura heard a noise and turned her head just in time to see Itami hoist herself up over the railing of the staircase. "The real question to ask for the grade, however, is whether or not you accomplished your objective. So, did you?"

Sakura shrugged and laughed quietly. "I hope so. You're #&#&ing here aren't you?"

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," yelled Kiba, in between dodging stray kunai and shuriken, "Your teacher is crazy enough to stage a training exercise in the middle of bloody downtown Konoha? With live steel and techniques that could possibly kill you?"

"Pretty much?" Naruto managed a grin, despite the sinking feeling in his stomach. He really needed to learn to think things through. Grabbing Kiba and running had been an instinctive action. And, of course, his two teammates had tagged along as well. And now 'his' pursuers had decided that they were now 'their' pursuers. Hinata now sported a long scratch down her left arm where a shuriken had grazed her, and Shino hadn't even bothered to take the knife out of his hair.

"Have I mentioned that your teacher is crazy as hell, yet?" Kiba shouted and, to Naruto's mild confusion, laughed, "Kurenai-sensei would never do something like this! It's like she thinks we're made of glass! Wanna switch?"

"You're the one who's bloody crazy!" Naruto shouted back, laughing despite his confusion. Of all the students in the academy, he had gotten along with Kiba the best. Not that that was saying anything, really. The other boy was just as rude, confrontational, and independent as he was. They'd spent half their time at the academy trying to one up each other and the other half brawling. Despite that, Naruto knew that Kiba was honest and would watch his back if asked. They didn't particularly like each other, but Naruto liked to think there was at least some respect. After all, he'd beaten Kiba nearly as much as Kiba had beaten him.

The smaller of their two pursuers appeared abruptly in front of them, and Naruto wasted no time in going on the offensive. The man with the oversized fist had shown no restraint with his display a few blocks back, so Naruto had no problem returning the favor. Those who were ready to hurt people should be ready to be hurt. Mindful of his recent chakra control lessons with Ryoushi-sensei, he carefully channeled just the right amount of chakra into his favorite technique.

Three shadow clones materialized around him as he charged forward. He heard Hinata shout something, but he ignored it. He could always apologize later. Getting this man out of their way was more important. He was the more dangerous of the two, Naruto was sure. The masked ninja was quick, nimble, and highly skilled. He hadn't shown them any fancy or dangerous moves, unlike his partner, but Naruto was sure he had a few. The man was patiently waiting for the opportunity to use them. Patience was a dangerous virtue when the enemy had more of it than you did.

The first of his clones leapt into the air, and without hesitating, Naruto and another clone each grabbed a foot and boosted the first clone even higher. It soared into the air, but to Naruto's surprise, his opponent didn't even seem to blink. Most Leaf ninja who saw that he knew the Shadow Clone Technique were shocked or at least mildly surprised. This one merely quickly tossed a kunai at the falling clone and dispelled it.

In the end, it didn't really matter, as Naruto had planned on taking advantage of the ninja being distracted from the beginning. The second clone threw itself at the opponent, and managed to get in a few punches before a chop to the throat dispelled it. That still was fine, as Naruto was there to grab the outstretched arm. The ninja's eyes went wide for a moment, before Naruto threw him into a nearby lamp pole. There was a resounding clang, and it was Naruto's turn to stare in mild shock at the trash can he had just thrown into the pole.

He gathered his wits together just in time to block a kick from above. He grabbed for the ninja's foot, in the hopes of trying to throwing him once again, but missed. Instead, the ninja landed a little off balance, but already swinging a fist for a punch. Naruto almost smiled. They were finally fighting at close quarters; he could now defend himself properly.

Naruto would never be an expert at The Flowing River. He knew that. Ryoushi knew that. But as his teachers (well, the two that mattered to him at least) frequently pointed out, Naruto was skilled at adapting things to suit his own goals. And lucky for him, his opponent had closed the distance. The first move of the kata wasn't quite a quick block to stop a fist heading for his face, but it was close enough that he could improvise. He easily redirected the force of the blow away from himself. The ninja's eyes went wide, but Naruto was already moving into the next stance. His opponent was already severely off balance; the man had no choice but to get swept along as Naruto methodically worked his way through the kata.

Of course, considering he hadn't quite learned the entire kata, he was left without a real clear finisher. That was fine, he'd prepared for that, too. The ninja desperately threw another punch in hopes of breaking Naruto's momentum. However, Naruto once again simply redirected the attack to the side. This time, however, he added a little extra oomph to his push, which caused his enemy to severely overbalance. Unable to do anything to regain his balance, the ninja stumbled directly into the third clone's right hook. The man grunted, and fell the ground, obviously a bit dizzy.

That was good enough for Naruto. The man wasn't down or out, but he'd have to take a few seconds to clear his head. That would give them a few precious moments to escape. He turned to yell at Kiba's team to run, just in time to see a person-shaped blur streaking towards him. Without thinking, he braced himself and caught the blur, though the force of the person hitting him nearly knocked him off his feet. He managed to keep his balance, but he slid a few feet backwards. That hit must have had a lot of power behind it.

He looked down at the person in his arms, and realized it was the Hyuga girl. She looked a little worse for wear with a rather large bruise covering half her face, but was thankfully conscious. After a moment, she began to struggle a bit, so he let her go, and dashed back in the direction that she had come flying from. She could take care of herself now that she wasn't flying through the air. She was a Hyuga after all. He felt a bit uneasy, though. If her opponent had knocked her flying that easily, Kiba and Shino would need help.

He didn't have to go far. He found them just down the street face-to-face with their other pursuer. Luckily, the man was too busy dealing with both Kiba and Shino to do anything other than blink at him. That didn't mean things were going well for the two. Like Hinata, they both were covered in bruises and were breathing heavily. Whoever this man was, he was very good. This fight couldn't have been going on for more than two or three minutes. If all of Team Nine couldn't deal with the man, he certainly wouldn't be much of a help.

So he did the first thing that came to mind. With an explosion of white smoke, he filled the street with shadow clones, grabbed Shino and Kiba, and ran. It wasted a lot of chakra, but breaking free of the crazy good ninja more than justified it. The ninja would take the clones out left and right with barely any effort, but sometimes quantity had a quality all of its own. Ryoushi would forgive the waste this once. If it worked.

"He's an Akimichi," Shino said, when he managed to get his breath back enough to speak. "Close combat specialist. Very skilled."

"Ya think?" Kiba muttered. "He's way out of our league, Naruto. I think Hinata managed to close a couple of chakra points in one of his legs, though. That should slow him down. We should be able to outrun him, now. What about the other one?"

Naruto grimaced. "I knocked him down, but he definitely wasn't out. When Hinata came flying out of nowhere, I got a bit distracted. I didn't expect the big one to be so close on our tail."

Kiba and Shino exchanged a worried look, and then they raced ahead. Naruto, a tad bit confused, chased after them. When he reached where he had left Hinata and the smaller of their two opponents, he noticed that Kiba and Shino had rushed over to a body on the ground. He felt his stomach drop, and he hurriedly joined them.

It was Hinata. Thankfully, they quickly determined that she was only unconscious, but just by looking at her left arm, Naruto could tell it was probably broken. He'd glimpsed enough of Sakura's notes to guess that much. Not that he needed her notes with it lying under her at such an unnatural angle. Her breathing was deep and steady, as well, which suggested that she'd been taken out quickly and with relatively little exertion. He'd caught the smaller man by surprise once. He had apparently not taken a chance with Hinata.

"Hurry, pick her up, we need to get out of here!" Naruto hissed, trying to do his best to look all directions at once. The Akimichi was slowly but steadily making his way towards them. And who knew where the smaller one had gone after disabling Hinata? Not far, Naruto was willing to bet.

Kiba sent him an angry glare, "We need to get her arm patched up first, moron, else we could make it worse!"

"I think you've got your priorities mixed up, idiot! The guy who took her out has to still be around here. Plus, the big guy isn't that far behind. We need to move!" Naruto said through clenched teeth. Things had escalated way more than he had expected. He didn't mind getting hurt. He didn't like seeing others get hurt because he'd gotten them involved, though. This was supposed to be a practice exercise, for goodness sake!

"Shino!" Kiba barked.

Naruto saw Shino nod, then a cloud of… something poured out of his sleeves and buzzed off towards their larger pursuer. He thought about asking about it, but ultimately decided against it. If Kiba thought it would be useful, he would simply go the flow. Shino had been a strange enough kid during school, and had spent his time doing odd science projects with insects. He didn't want to think what kind of techniques the boy had managed to come up with using that knowledge. Or where he was keeping them, for that matter.

"How long will it take you to set her arm?" Naruto asked, resuming his watch.

He ignored the glare Kiba shot him. "A couple minutes. Kurenai-sensei made sure we knew basic first-aid skills. Unless you think you could do it faster?"

"Sakura's job, not mine. She's training with a medic-nin. You should see the textbooks she goes through. Turns my stomach worse than expired milk," he answered distractedly, watching their larger pursuer who seemed to be having some issues. Whatever Shino had done had done was apparently working. He missed the confused look that Kiba and Shino shared.

"The Akimichi is having more trouble moving than I expected. Seems as if Hinata took out more chakra points than we expected," Shino suddenly reported.

"And the quick one?" Naruto asked.

Shino shook his head. "No information. I did not have a chance to plant a female on him."

Naruto again resolved not to ask any further questions on Shino's abilities. If it involved planting females of any species on anything, it firmly found its way onto his list entitled 'Things He Did Not Want to Know.' The list was now far, far longer than it had been before he'd been attached to T&I. Ninjas were creepy bastards. Especially Sakura's teacher. He didn't even want to think about what that woman did at night.

They waited a few tense moments as Kiba finished up his work. Naruto didn't particularly know a lot about field medicine, but even to his eyes, it looked a bit sloppy. However, if it got them moving, it was fine in his book. They were in a much worse position standing here, than if they were on the move. The civilians had picked up on the fact that something was going on, and had wisely stayed out of the street. That made it that much easier for the enemy to attack them. He didn't particularly want to endanger civilians, but if they were in a crowd, he would almost guarantee the Akimichi wouldn't be swinging around his giant fist of death.

Of course, he hadn't expected the giant fist of death even on a relatively deserted street, either, so maybe his guesses were a bit off. Ibiki-sensei seemed to be a pretty harsh guy, so it was possible that he really would throw them to the wolves like that. Though, to be honest, Naruto hadn't really spent that much time with him. Maybe he was a bad judge of character. He'd have to compare notes with Sakura or even… bleh… Sasuke when they got back together. Maybe it was just him. The Akimichi wouldn't be the first ninja to have a grudge against the kid possessed by the Kyu-

His thoughts were interrupted by a shadow that abruptly ceased to be a shadow and instead became a ninja trying to kill him.

* * *

"Hatake Kakashi!" Sasuke muttered quietly, cursing the team's bad luck while simultaneously rejoicing at his own almost unimaginable good luck.

The man's only visible eyebrow rose in controlled surprise, before he turned back to his book. "Well, I suppose that saves time on introductions, then. Because you clearly are Uchiha Sasuke. Charmed, I'm sure."

Sasuke blinked in confusion, but didn't lower his kunai. This man had a fierce and unpredictable reputation. Moreover, Sasuke had no clue if Kakashi was even involved in the exercise or if meeting him was simply coincidence. Well, it probably wasn't coincidence. Just about any ninja would be curious about why a genin was dodging spears coming from nowhere. Kakashi could simply be here to satisfy his curiosity.

"There are better ways of practicing dodging, you know. I mean, Ejiki's a top class archer and all, but in the end it's a little bit dangerous. Those arrows of his will leave awfully large holes in you if you mess up. I prefer simply sparing myself. Safer, really," Kakashi commented in the same dry tone. He could have been talking about the weather, or what he had for lunch by the tone of his voice.

Sasuke ignored the barb, and asked the question he really wanted to ask, "… Are you a part of this exercise?" He waited for the answer with equal amounts of eagerness and dread. Sure, the man could screw over the entire plan, but this was Kakashi of the Sharingan. He was the only ninja left in the village that could use his family's techniques. And he wasn't even an Uchiha! He had been hoping for years for a chance to fight the man who had somehow stolen one of his relative's eyes, and gotten away with it. To beat him would be a wonderful start to his revenge, even if he couldn't kill him.

"Exercise?" The man seemed to ponder the idea for a moment. "Ah. You mean Ibiki's excuse to humiliate his genin team. Yeah, I suppose I'm involved. Well, he asked me to participate, so I don't really know if that means I'm involved or not unless I do something. And I was a bit late getting here since I stopped to help this old lady cross the street, so I'm not really sure what the plan is. Do you know?"

Sasuke wasn't sure if he was supposed to laugh or simply be put off balance by the man's odd babble. It didn't particularly matter. The man had said he was part of the exercise, which meant he could be fought. For their plan to succeed, Kakashi of the Sharingan could not be allowed anywhere near the projected path of the plan. He had to get the man's attention and keep it. More importantly, he needed a chance to redeem a bit of the Uchiha's honor, no matter how small. It was like a dream come true. A perfectly valid excuse to attack Hatake Kakashi.

"I'm afraid, I don't know what Ibiki's plan is, Hatake Kakashi, but I do know what my plan is." Sasuke brazenly said.

"Oh, you're going to be wise and surrender? How very decent of you. Saves me a lot of trouble," Kakashi answered casually without looking up from his book.

Sasuke ground his teeth, and responded by throwing his kunai at the man. In a perfect world, it would have buried itself right between the man's eyes, instantly killing him, and providing Sasuke with a great deal of personal satisfaction. What did happen, however, occurred so quickly that Sasuke wasn't really sure what had happened. He hadn't really expected the knife to hit, merely to make the man flinch or dodge. One moment the blade was arcing through the air towards the man; and in the next, Kakashi was squatting on his knees back-to-back with him, twirling said knife in between his fingers.

"Kind of a weak opener, to be honest. Always follow through, you know. Never stop moving. Keep the opponent on their toes. It'll prevent you from getting stabbed in the back. You do get some points for taking the initiative, though." Kakashi commented, still in that dry tone of voice that Sasuke was already beginning to hate.

He struck out with a backward-aimed leg sweep that Kakashi lazily dodged. However, that was fine, since it allowed him to get some room between him and his opponent. Hatake Kakashi was supposedly deadly at any range, but was especially deadly in close combat. Of course, that was where Sasuke was strongest as well, but even he wasn't confident enough to believe he could match a powerful ninja in the area they specialized in.

However, when he tried to move away and gain some space, he found his progress blocked by the man in question. Sasuke hadn't even seen the man move. One moment the man was dodging, the next he was simply somewhere else. The man's speed made him completely impossible for Sasuke to follow.

"You keep stopping whenever I do something that you haven't planned for. Why? I could have killed you about thirty times between the sweep and when you realized where I was. Why make yourself even more vulnerable? Think on your feet, already."

Sasuke eyed the man warily, and came to the conclusion that he needed to put a little more thought into engaging this opponent. Going into the fight, he had known the man probably outclassed him, but he hadn't expected it to this degree. The man hadn't even thrown a punch yet. Nor had he needed to, Sasuke realized with chagrin. Only two or three moves into the fight, and it was terribly obvious that he had been far too overconfident.

"By the way, you should probably think about dodging right…now." Kakashi informed him.

He blinked in confusion for a moment, and then threw himself violently forward. Another of the spears…well, arrows, if Kakashi had told the truth, slammed into the ground only a few inches from where he had been standing. In his rush to attack Kakashi, he'd forgotten about his other opponent and had wandered out of cover. He tried to dash back towards the safety of the chimney, only to be blocked by Kakashi. The man looked up from his book and had the gall to smile at him. Well, it was probably a smile, considering that he couldn't see anything but the man's eyes.

"Well, what are you planning to do now, hmm? Pinned down in the open with an unbeatable enemy blocking the only cover? Not a lot of choices here. You should probably think fast. Ejiki can get four or five shafts in the air at the same time when he's at the top of his game. Better come up with something imaginative!" Kakashi said, and Sasuke swore he saw the ninja's eye twinkle.

"No one is unbeatable!" Sasuke growled, angry at the man's mirth. His eyes scanned the surroundings for any advantage. He needed something, anything that would let him get out Ejiki's line of fire.

"Yeah. And that starts with you, pretty boy. The way you're acting right now, I don't even have to put down my book. Good thing, too. It's getting to the good part, and I'd hate to put it down. Yuki and Tomoe are about to… Well, you're probably too young to enjoy it." Kakashi answered, excitement for once rising in his dry voice.

Sasuke knew he had two broad paths of action. One was to run. That wasn't a terribly attractive choice. Kakashi, if the rumors about his mastery of the Sharingan were true, was one of the few people who could bust their plan wide open. The last thing they needed was Kakashi running all over town. And more importantly, running would be highly embarrassing. Uchiha didn't run from their opponents. And he certainly wouldn't run from a man who was pretending to be one of his own lofty clan.

The other choice was to attack. Sasuke wasn't quite convinced that that would be tantamount to suicide, but he still would undoubtedly lose. Even if Ejiki wasn't lobbing arrows at him, Kakashi… might… beat… him. He simply didn't have enough room to maneuver and time to plan. This fight just wasn't fair. And while that would be less embarrassing than running, he really didn't consider the two to be all that much different. Shame was still shame.

Of course, there was a third option, but it was so Naruto-like that he almost immediately rejected it. That was to do something so incredibly out there, so bizarre, that it would let him take out either Kakashi or Ejiki, or somehow give him an overpowering advantage over one of them. Or preferably both. Or maybe just dumbfound them long enough to come up with something much more solid. There was tremendous power in occasionally doing something unexpected and likely stupid, but it would require a great deal of luck to pull off. Sasuke wasn't quite sure if he was willing to debase himself in that fashion or to risk his chance at better training on luck alone, but the other two choices weren't exactly ideal either. If he was going to be embarrassed, it might as well accomplish something.

So he did the most embarrassing thing that he could think of.

* * *

Naruto was in the middle of a slight existential crisis. It wasn't the first one of these that he had experienced during his childhood. Generally, he spent his time asking himself why he existed at all. This time he was wondering if he himself existed at all. Either way, it was awkward. It was extremely hard to concentrate on the mission when one was trying to contemplate Life, the Universe, and Everything. Or at least as close as he could get to it.

In this case, some things were remarkable simple and clear-cut. Up until several hours ago, he'd been a fairly abnormal, yet still normal boy ninja. After that, however, he had become a clone. Well, 'become' was obviously not what had actually occurred. He had molded chakra and willed himself into existence… Or something. That was probably the most awkward part. He could distinctly remember measuring out just the right amount of chakra to create a clone that would last for several hours… and then the next moment he was receiving orders from himself? about what to do. Which was kind of silly. Of course he knew what he was planning to do and didn't need himself to tell him how to do it…?

It was enough to give him a headache, and it occupied him almost all the way from his drop-off point to near his goal. He at least had the presence of mind to keep up both his Henge, a young girl, and his secret weapon, the aptly named the It's-Not-Your-Business Technique.

It was a really didn't deserve a name of its own, considering it was really just a variation of the Emotion Projection Technique, but Ryoushi-sensei had been strangely insistent on it have a name for some reason. The technique harnessed people's ability to ignore things that didn't concern them. It wasn't like invisibility jutsu that could completely hide a ninja from view, even in complete daylight. Those kinds of techniques required obscene amounts of chakra and incredible control over it. The It's-Not-Your-Business Technique simply encouraged people to not pay attention, and required only small amounts of chakra and basic control.

However, the whole idea behind the technique had been a surprisingly difficult thing for Naruto to grasp, due to the fact that he took pride in being interested in everything that happened in the village. He wasn't particularly good at channeling apathy. The idea that people might want to be completely oblivious to anything around them seemed incredibly wrong to him. So many interesting things were always happening, why take a chance and miss them?

He wandered more or less freely across the business district that led to the West Gate. The plan didn't require much speed. He simply had to make it across town unnoticed. So he played the part of an (highly) absent-minded shopper. He's spend half-an-hour or so in one shop, then ten minutes in the next, then maybe a bit longer in the next, and slowly made his way towards the goal. He somehow instinctively could tell how much chakra he had left in his short existence, so he could guess pretty well how to pace himself. That in itself bugged him, as he found it highly unpleasant to be constantly reminded that his life was slowly and surely coming to an end.

Thoughts of his own mortality aside, he had no problems moving across town. Sakura and Sasuke seemed to be providing decent distractions for possible pursuers, as well as his… original… he supposed it was, though he loathed to call him that. As far as he was concerned, he was just as much of the original as the… original… was…

Within about three hours, he had made it to near the plaza before the West Gate. The road leading to the gate itself was relatively long and narrow, but opened out to a much larger plaza. In one Iruka-ni-san's more boring lectures, he had taught them all about the layout of the village. The two major gates were both designed the same: to funnel enemies into a killing field should the gates ever be breached. It was largely a coincidence that the same plaza that was meant to serve as a killing field also made an excellent space for Konoha's biggest outdoor market. And by the time Naruto entered, business was in full swing.

The plaza was filled with both ninjas and civilians, all hurrying from merchant to merchant looking for the best deals or the better product. Exotic food and clothing vendors, weapon smiths, furniture dealers, perfume sellers, snake oil salesmen all were hawking their products to anyone who would listen, and to those who would not, just for good measure. Naruto had often visited the market on his days off. The blend of excited activity and the exotic drew him and every other child in the city like flies to honey. If there was any place that he could move around relatively unhindered, it would be here. Any opposing ninja would have to be insane to attack him surrounded by such a crowd.

He moved with a little bit more urgency, doing his best to wind his way through the crowd. He could sense that his chakra reserves were becoming low. Unfortunately, other than near the West Gate he didn't really have an idea of where Ibiki-sensei was. The entire area was technically part of the gate. He needed to find his teacher and give him the scroll before he ran out of chakra and di-… ceased to be. The gate itself was the most likely place where he would be waiting. Maybe even outside the Couriers' office. In fact that made a lot of sense. Most messages that passed in and out of the village went through there anyway.

With that thought in mind, he headed for the office. It was located right inside the gate next to the customs office. And within moment, to his great relief, he could see Ibiki-sensei, standing right outside the office. He was tempted to just drop the Henge and run, but common sense prevailed. This was also the perfect spot for a trap. That didn't stop him from quickening his pace just a little. A young girl could send and receive messages like anyone else, after all.

Ibiki-sensei seemed to recognize him by sight, despite his Henge and genjutsu, which was a bit worrying. However, Naruto realized with a giggle that this Henge was almost exactly the same as the one he had used when he had pranked his teacher's office. Just for fun, he added a little roll to his step, and slowly winked. He almost burst out laughing when he saw Ibiki-sensei began to blush.

He didn't laugh when the man dispelled him with a kunai to the stomach.

* * *

"That was a bit mean," Ibiki commented when he exited the office after using the bathroom, "If you hadn't have done that, they would have won. However that clone got here, it took some skill. Though I suppose, it would lose points for not verifying the identity of the client," He bent over and picked up the scroll the now dispelled clone had dropped.

"Or for not expecting treachery," said the man, dropping his own Henge.

Ibiki nodded, consenting the man's point. "Either way, it still was mean."

"Consider it a bit of a revenge prank," said the Third Hokage, with a serene smile

* * *

Greetings once again, I suppose. I'm really bad at this regularly updating thing, aren't I? This chapter has largely sat about 4/5ths unfinished on my hard drive for about 5 or 6 months to be honest. I've spent a great deal of time just pulling it out and looking at it, then putting it away and looking at it again a few weeks later.

This chapter suffers mostly from unepicness. I spent a lot of time trying to think of ways to make what they do cool or awesome. In the end I couldn't justify it. This exercise just shows that they really aren't that great at what they do, and a few weeks of training isn't going to magically cause them to be honest. Because in real life, things take time and hard work. And our Moron trio haven't put enough of either in yet. Not that I'm trying to be super realistic about whats going on here. Gah, realistic and Naruto don't even deserve to be in the same universe together.

I guess I'm complaining that I wanted to write something EPIC, and then didn't. Oh well. Anyway, See ya next time! (Hopefully more recent than you know…a year or so in the future.)

Macavity


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